


Swarm

by Perpetual_Ignorance



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Aliens, Based on B.V. Larsons Star Force Series, Character Death, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Minor Character Death, Multi, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Child Abuse, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-19 14:55:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 72,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22712575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perpetual_Ignorance/pseuds/Perpetual_Ignorance
Summary: "Yes," I hesitated knowing the significance of my next words should not be taken lightly. "I am Heda Lexa Kom Trikru of Star Force… I am the leader of this world."How… how could I have gotten myself into this position.Was it prophecy? Fate? Destiny? A bit of dumb luck? Who could say…I have consigned myself to being the one I promised myself I would never become.Are you proud of me now, Mother?Am I everything you created me to be, Becca Pramheda?
Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Anya & Lexa (The 100), Anya/Luna (The 100), Anya/Raven Reyes, Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes, Clarke Griffin/Lexa, Gustus/Indra (The 100), Lexa & Raven Reyes, Luna/Nyko (The 100)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

Something is off… I don’t know what it is but something about this night is off. 

Maybe it's the sky. The sunset seems overly beautiful, if that's even a thing. Like the purples and reds are too bright, and the way the light is reflecting off the sea and onto the clouds just seems unrealistic. But… maybe I'm just being too critical. I should just enjoy a rare sunset. 

“Mom, are you coming?” Aden called, presumably from the living room. He’s grown so much in the past eight years. I mean I guess all kids grow up fast but this is my kid so it’s special. 

I feel like just yesterday he was heading off to kindergarten and now going on thirteen, He has a whisper of blonde hair making the beginnings of an admittedly pathetic beard. His blonde hair was in a man bun that he insisted all the woman loved.

I must have been staring at him for quite a while because he seemed disappointed. “Are you drunk… again? The last bit he whispered to himself, as if I wouldn’t hear. Though he clearly knew I would hear.

“No,” I said possibly too quickly. Had I been drinking? Just a bit, but he didn’t need to know that. “I was just thinking, lets go.”

Seeing me moving seemed to do the trick. Because his accusatory stare turned more pleasant though he was still suspicious. “I’ll call a Lift,” He wasn’t fooled, he never is.

I really shouldn’t be so casual about this. Ever since my wife, Costia, died things have not been the easiest. She was the only thing that made my life worth it. The first person who saw me for me and not just Heda. She’s the reason I left… well… the life… for her. Everything I have done was for her. 

I must have started to cry at some point because I felt Aden wiping tears away from my face. “It’s ok Mom, your safe, your home, and I’m hungry. Let’s just go pick up Olivia.” 

Whatever gene controls empathy is one he got from me. Sympathetic yet stern. The selfishness though that is all Costia. 

Looking in a nearby mirror I clear as much of my recent lasp from my face as possible. Apparently Aden preempted the Uber because before I even grabbed my bag there was honking out the front. 

“Can’t you just get her, yourself? Why must I join you?” I ask, really not wanting to leave the house. Preferring the comfort of a cold beer, or maybe a Tom Collins, to having to interact with people.

“Yes, you have to come. I told you I’m hungry and Olivia will be too. If you don’t come she’ll make me eat at one of those vegan places.” He faked shuttered, knowing perfectly well that I like vegan food. “Come on Mom... think about it. Large boardwalk fries a huge slice pizza followed by an extra large vanilla ice cream. Doesn’t that sound good?”

Those are my guilty pleasures. I hate it when he does that. Both my kids are manipulative. “Fine, but I will not share.”

Seemingly pleased, we head to the Uber and have an uneventful ride. Although the unease I felt earlier at the beach still remained, the night felt wrong. It all felt wrong just like the night Costia was killed, just like the day I left the rig. Something was going to happen, I just don’t know what it is. I double checked my bag insuring 

We arrived at the boardwalk and immediately when I stepped onto the curb I heard Olivia calling. “Aden… Mom… over here!”

She was jogging over smiling as big as ever. Olivia was always smiling just like her mother. Her light green eyes were always bright and full of wonder. Her long, light brown hair blew loosely behind her as she moved in our direction. She was tall, certainly taller than me at sixteen she was already pushing at being six foot. I’m not sure where she gets the height from, Costia was only 5’8” and I barely reached that height in heels. In all but hair color she was almost a carbon copy of my late wife.

Where Olivia was all Costia, Aden looked like me with calculating green eyes, a strong jaw, and a weight on his shoulders that goes beyond his years. He's the linchpin of our family. When I couldn’t function he was always there making sure I went to work and Olivia too school. 

It was so strange thinking back to those days I was a mess, Olivia was too. If not for a five year old, we wouldn’t have survived that I am certain.

“I was thinking we could eat at Native. Don’t you think that sounds good, Mom?” Why do both of my children try to reach me through my stomach. Do I really make decisions based on such things frequently enough that they find they can manipulate me easily...? Probably… I do enjoy a good meal. 

“Not so fast Olivia. I got Mom here with the promise of french fries, pizza and ice…” That's as far as he got before a large black arm fell from the sky, grabbing Aden around the middle and snatching him from the earth and taking him. 

All I heard was screaming whether it was Olivia or Aden or one of the many people surrounding us or even myself, I don’t know. All I know is that my instincts were way ahead of me. Before I even knew it I had my Walther P99 out and tracking the long arm that had my son. I wouldn’t fire out of fear of hitting Aden but… What the hell has him?

I tracked the black arm that reached down to its source. Now, I’ve seen a lot of shit. I’ve seen mass murders, I’ve started Coo’s, I’ve seen the best technology the world has had to offer, and destroyed half of it, but today I saw something I never thought I’d see in my whole life.

A silver circular... or was it spherical. Either way it was floating with no obvious propulsion system. The black arm was being pulled into a hatch on the floor of the ship, a UFO. There was no other way to describe it. No human mind made that ship. A UFO that was taking my son into its maul and there is nothing I can do about it. 

“MOM… That thing has Aden, what the fuck is that? What are we going to do?” Olivia screams at me. But I don’t have answers for her. Hell if we stand here long enough she might realize I’m holding a gun and I don’t have answers for that either. I don’t want to abandon my son but retreating to save my daughter seems like the best option. “Mom, please say something? Anything.” 

If I was in a better frame of mind I may have wondered why my daughter knew my native tongue, Trigedasleng. If I was in the right frame of mind I wouldn’t be standing here with my thumb up my ass while my son is having who knows what done to him by some fucking aliens. 

Get your shit together Lexa. You are Heda, think like it. 

“Do as I say. No questions, Understood.” Like putting on a different set of clothes, slipping back into Heda mode was so easy even after almost two decades, the training was so deeply ingrained it was instinctual. Right now I was a commando, A Commander, and nothing and no one was going to stop me.

“Umm… Sha.” Olivia says in a mixture of shock and most certainly fear. 

I reach into one of my boots and hand her the knife inside. “Did Anya ever show you how to use this?” I ask knowing that Olivia and my bodyguard spent a lot of summers together. It made sense now, Olivia speaking Trigedasleng, she probably knew more about me than she should, then anyone should, but that doesn’t matter anymore. 

“Yes” She says pulling her hair back in a ponytail. Seeming to become less scared and more determined. “What are we gonna do? What about Aden?” 

“I’m going to get on that ship and find him. You are going to run like hell and not look back.” She looked like she was about to argue but I put a hand in her face. “No questions, move your ass, go home.”

She looked pissed but she did as I ordered and started sprinting away from the floating craft. I had no idea if there were more ships in the area, but I knew my daughter could take care of herself. 

When I looked back at the ship, the first thing I saw was a body. It fell limply from the ship and finally came crashing down five meters in front of me. 

It was Aden. His eyes were open and a look of fear was left permanently on his face. My son was dead. I don’t know how you are supposed to react in the face of your worst nightmare. The one thing you thought would never happen, could never happen, has happened.

Bending down to be beside him I simply say, “Yu gonplei ste odon, your fight is over,” and close his eyes. 

I was pissed… no… I was so many things that pissed is the only feeling I can deal with. The only feeling that could be of use to me. I was ready to kill, and I didn’t care who. 

Standing I went to track where the ship was and in particular where the black arm was. Luckily for me the arm seemed to have taken an interest in my person. Within seconds the three metal tentacles had themselves wrapped around my body and were hauling me up into the same hole that killed my son. Whatever is up there is going to die. If it was the last thing I do, those alien fucks were going to die. 

When I was finally set on my feet, I was in an artificially lit room where the lights had no specific point of origin. But I didn’t have time to thoroughly investigate my situation because charging towards me was two strangest creatures I could imagine. From the waist down, they had a furry goat-like form, with four legs ending in hooves. From the waist up they were humanoid having two arms that ended in three fingered hands. Their eyes glared into me with an intelligence while there spiked horns spoke of death. Most likely my son’s blood dipped from them on to their fur. 

It didn’t matter, I shot both of them in the head. I hated those things, they don’t deserve my attention, my anything, they stole my son from me, and they are nothing.

“Aggression demonstrated,” a cold voice came from seemingly everywhere and nowhere, I couldn't locate any speakers or other such appratius. It was femine in nature but at the same time it reminded me of the voice of Becca’s AI. What was its name…? AJ I think.

Could these goat-people really have created this monstrosity. It doesn’t seem likely considering that they didn’t have any weapons, other than their horns. Why would they put themselves in such danger? I can’t discount them though, it could be a right of passage for their people. God knows I’ve seen weirder rituals. Hell I’ve been a part of weirder. At the thought I rubbed the infinity symbol at the back of my neck and the scar it covered up, remembering a less than pleasant birthday.

I snarled at the memory and about what the voice said ‘aggression demonstrated’ well of course. Those fuckers just killed my kid and I responded in kind. I hope I get the chance to kill their kids. 

A hole seemed to materialize out of thin air and a new arm reached into the room. It looked like it was going to sweep the goat people out of the opening. Before it could disappear into the next room I hopped on the black arm to see where it goes. I fully expected there to be more of those fucking goats on the other side so I had my gun up and ready as a sweeped the new room.

“Initiative demonstrated,” the voice said again. What the hell is going on? If I wouldn’t have jumped on that arm would I have been dropped like my son, or like those Centaurs, that's what they are called. Is this thing testing me? 

Two doors on the far wall opened up. I assume that one goes to my death and the other is ‘safe’. I choose a door at random then cautiously placed weight on the other side. The moment I put a bit of weight down the floor dematerialized. Below me I only saw darkness as if we were way over the ocean. I didn’t even see any sign of life. I should have felt something either the acceleration from moving across the ocean or the elevation raise. But I didn’t feel a thing or even notice.

I back away from the hole leading to a painful pancake death. “Caution Demonstrated.”

So no matter what door I would have chosen I would have fallen to my death, good to know. 

Another door opened, and there was not a chance in hell I was moving an inch before I knew what the hell was going on. This whole situation feels like deja vu. It's like going through the conclave all over again. But this time I got the killing out of the way first, or at least I hope so.

After a few minutes of standing still the floor began to get hot, really hot. Apparently if I wasn’t going to move willingly the ship was going to get me to move by force. 

I creep cautiously into the next room hoping this wasn’t another death trap. “The subject will submit to interrogation,” the robotic voice said the moment I stepped into the room fully. Like every time before the doorway behind me disappeared. If I survive this experience I’m going to have to ask Professor Reyes about this sort of thing. Reyes always seemed to know all about advanced technology, considering she was one of the best in… well name a science, well at least the technical ones like Physics, Engineering and Chemistry, that sort of thing, she may be the one to ask. 

“I’ll answer questions, if you answer some of mine.” I sure as fuck wasn’t about to give away any information that wasn’t going to lead to this fuckers death.

“Bargaining demonstrated,” So another test. This is bullshit, how many more tests are there. What does this ship want? This time a door close to the one that let me in opened up. I swung about pointing my gun at the entrance ready for anything. 

A young woman walked in with blonde hair and pissed off looking blue eyes. She was a bit taller than me and couldn’t have been much older than twenty-five. But what almost caught me off guard was the fact that the only thing she had on was a giant t-shirt, that was so large the neck whole hung off her shoulder and nearly fell off her body. Even more frightening was the huge Smith and Wesson trained on my face. 

“Who the fuck are you?” her voice rough like she just woke up. Her blue eyes tracking my gun as it too was pointed at her though not nearly as intently. “You’re not a fucking alien are you?”

I almost felt the corner of my mouth pull into a smirk. But I just wasn’t in the mood, I might never be in the mood again. If this was another day I would have found the ruffled state the blonde was in made her look rather attractive and I may have been distracted by the long legs peeking out from under the t-shirt. 

“I’m Alexandra Woods, and no I’m not an alien. How about you?” I say lowering my pistol to a less threatening level, though not fully removing it from her person. I believed thoroughly I could get a shot off before her and I was not concerned.

“Like as in Professor Lexa Woods the historian and bonafide hottie.” I feel the tips of my ears heat up at the familiar greeting.

“You must be a friend of Professor Reyes.” I say attempting to hide that bit of embarrassment. That woman is so blunt, and has no filter. It's not surprising her friends would be similar.

“Indeed, Clarke Griffin. I’m the doctor, if she happened to mention me. I’m sure she did, she doesn’t not talk.” She never used the term doctor to describe her job, mostly lowly intern. Clake seemed to relax a bit but her gun was still trained on me and when I see where its pointed, I know she has heard all about my reputation with the secretary pull. 

“So what do you make of this Clarke? Have you gone through the test as well?” I ask hoping that if I seem relaxed she will remove her guns sights from my body because I have no intention of shooting her, any longer. 

“Yeah, I had Initiative and Bargaining. You?” So she was picked up after me. I wonder how many people are here taking these so-called tests. 

I tell her what tests I’ve taken. Once I finished reiterating the test I took a door opened. “What do you think we should do?”

“I can feel the floor heating up. I think the ship wants us to go through.” I believe her, seeing her starting to pick up her bare feet “I think I remember Raven saying you were military so lead the way.”

I would have insisted she go first, but apparently, and possibly rightly so, either she didn’t trust me or she was thinking this was her ‘caution’ test and wanted to keep her eyes on me, I don’t blame her. If I was in her position I may have considered shooting her in the back as well, though it would be a shame to humanity.

Just as I begin to step into the next room heard Clarke yelp I whip around to see the floor beginning to dissolve under her and seeing her fall into nothing. Without thinking I dropped to the floor and caught her hand before she disappeared entirely. “I got you, climb over me.” I grunt out trying to secure my position better so I don’t drop her. I went to my knees but that barely helped. The problem was there was nothing to grab onto not a carpet or a door frame just the frictionless surface of metal that changed shape at will.

I see she dropped her gun and was swinging her other arm in an attempt to grab onto my outstretched hand. I had a plan, she wasn’t all that heavy if I could just swing her gaining some momentum and pull her inside. But I never got the chance. Before I could grab her other hand the floor slid shut and all I had in my hand was four fingers. 

“SHIT,” I yell leaning up against the wall throwing the fingers as far away from myself as I could. They were oozing blood where they were severed and now my fingers were covered in it. 

Had Aden been tested and been found insufficient, I guarantee it. And the universal price for failure is getting dumped out of the ship. The calm that had washed over me since I found my son dead in the street is gone. How I’m feeling now isn’t new, it's an old and terrible feeling, grief. I want a drink I want to curl up in my bed and melt into it and hope that I never get back up. I made a weird sound something between a howl and a moan. I couldn’t see, my vision was clouded by a relentless amount of tears.

“Leadership demonstrated,” of course it was another test and Clarke failed.


	2. Chapter 2

It could have been five seconds or… five minutes I didn’t know. My mind didn’t care at this point. When I saw Aden dead it wasn’t my fault, not really, I blamed myself of course but at the end of the day there was nothing I could have done. But with Clarke, I failed Clarke, because of my decision she died. I’ve sent men off to die before. I failed to save people before. Hell I’ve even made decisions that led to my men's death. But Clarke wasn’t under my command and, as far as I knew, had no real military training she wasn’t meant to die like that. Especially because of my error.

My hatred for this machine only grew, and whoever or whatever had devised such an insidious construct will rue the day it ever left the garage. Or whatever the alien version of that is.

The only thing that brought me back was the sound of that damn machine, if that's what it truly is. “The subject will submit to interrogation.”

This again, the way it said that was the same way as the first time. This must have been a computer. I couldn’t imagine anything else even an alien species being this cold. I refused to answer. After about thirty seconds I felt the floor heat up under me. It wanted me to answer, but I didn’t care. I just sat there, not caring the floor began to rise to intolerable levels.

After another three minutes I finally relented. Dying wouldn't help anyone. 

“Like I said before you heartless fuck, I will not be answering any questions unless you answer some of mine first.” My voice was barely above a whisper I was pissed, deep in grief, and done. There was nothing this beast could do to me that I haven't already endured in my life. I wasn’t playing these games anymore.

“Tenacity demonstrated. All tests complete, you have been selected for advancement.” 

“Wonderful” I grumbled not believing anything this stupid machine said.

“You may now command Us.”

“Command, you?” 

“Yes,” Another door opened just like all the other ones that came before. This time when I didn’t move nothing happened. The floor didn’t heat up, and I wasn’t dropped out of the ship. After a few minutes of trying to decide whether it was worth it to go through the door I finally did. I was nothing else if not a curious person and the idea of this being different than every other damned   
‘Test’ was too much for me. Figuring there is no point in sitting here pitting myself. 

I entered the next room cautiously, but this wasn’t like any space the robotic voice brought me to before. This room was large in comparison to the little cubical rooms it held me in before. The ceiling was curved as if I was one one side of the ship. 

I hate to admit it but this change gave me some modicum of hope. Maybe the tests are really over and I could really command this vessel what would I ask for? What should I ask for? What did I need? I wondered how long I had to think this over before it just dropped me out someplace over the earth. That did seem to be the universal price for failure. 

Then I had it “I command you to go pick up the people you have dropped out of this ship and revive them, that being the woman named Clarke and my son, Aden.”

Maybe they gave every winner one wish before they probed them for testing or something. And maybe just maybe they could be brought back, the technology I’ve seen so far is so beyond anything I’ve ever imagined, maybe their medical technology could save my son. 

“Specify.”

“What do you mean, specify?” I ask incredulously.

“Who are Clarke and Aden?” The heartless voice responded. 

“The people you killed behind us, the people you dropped out of your belly you murderous piece of flying shit. Who else would I be talking about?”

“Course reversed.” My anger, my griefm had no effect on it. I tried to rein myself in. I’m a Heda, think with your head, not your heart, branwada. I chastised myself pushing my emotions below the surface. I had to think clearly, one mistake and I could get myself killed. I could get a lot of people killed, could there be people dying in tests like I went through right now making their way to me. Making their way to kill me, or far more likely die trying. 

I was burning with thousands of questions and commands. But I didn’t dare voice them. I needed to make sure to phrase them so that there would be no room for misinterpretation. If this truly was now my ship and I was talking to some sort of smart robot, what were they called… an AI then I needed to make sure it didn’t do something unintended.

After gathering myself for a minute, I figured I had time, considering I believe I could take anyone who came in here with a single shot without hesitation. Though I only had ten rounds left and no reloads. How many people am I willing to kill to keep this ship? In my opinion, everyone I fought hard to keep this fucking ship and I lost my son along the way. The only way I was giving up this ship is if someone kills me or if Aden is coming with me. I was playing a deadly game and I planned to play it like I always do with extreme paranoia. 

“What is your mission, ship?” I finally asked figuring that was a good place to start and didn’t conflict with its previous meeting. 

“My current mission is to locate command personnel.” The ship answered 

“Does that mean there are other test subjects on board?” I grimace my suspicion being confirmed. I should just be lucky none of them have made it here yet, though I didn’t feel that lucky. 

“Yes”

“Ship, I want you to cancel that mission. Do not pick up anymore people.” 

“Mission aborted,” Good

“Now place those individuals other than me back onto dry land.” I didn’t think it would stop picking up Clarke and Aden. That was a direct order. 

“There are no other individuals on this vessel.” Fuck, I am so stupid.

“Did you drop those people from the ship, when you aborted the mission?” I asked hoping I was wrong. 

“Yes,” The cold heartless piece of… No, I can’t blame the machine. It only did as it was told, what I told it to do? Machines are highly efficient and It saw no faster way to dispose of non-essential personnel than evicting them. 

After a few more minutes of silence, in which I contemplated the fact that I killed an unknown amount of people, again. One of the whipping black tentacle arms came from a room that I believe was close to where I entered and disappeared out a now open panel in the floor. In my head I started to refer to it as the Cargo Bay. I pointed my gun at the hole ready for anything when I realised it was the mangled body of Clarke. 

She was naked now, her baggy t-shirt being lost in the turbulent waves, of what I presume is the pacific. Water darkened her golden hair and ran from between her blue lips. She dripped cold water onto the deck as the snake-like arm carried her to an adjacent room. I suppose that it was Sickbay, hopefully the ship could save her. And even deeper in my heart I hoped that the ship could save Aden too.

The room it took her into had two tables, there were tinier versions of the large arm that Clarke was dangled from hanging down from the ceiling. Before the door shut again I saw the arm lay Clarke on the table. 

Maybe they could revive people, if they have been watching earth for years like many UFO nuts have believed, then they have studied human beings, maybe they really could bring humans back to life, just maybe they could save my son. Maybe I should stop calling them nuts. 

A defibrillator would look like sorcery a hundred years ago, right. Who knows what their technology could do when looking at it from that perspective? This is a dangerous voice. This is hope and I find that hope is more dangerous than this crazy ship could ever be. With hope one could be dissapointed. You can feel a loss over and over again with hope, and each time is worse than the last. Because the longer you have hope, the more strongly you believe in it. 

At some point during my internal monologue. The large snake-like arm came up holding the disfigured body of my son, strapped to the bed of a hospital gurney, a sheet covering his no doubt disfigured body. I looked down onto the street below and what I saw shouldn’t have been as shocking as it was. There were police lights flashing and what looked to be civilians running away from my floating ship. I wonder what they thought of my little ship. They probably thought they were about to be taken as well. 

I got my answer when I heard the distinct popping sound of gunfire as the arm pulled my son into the ship. “Morons” I muttered, taking a step back to avoid random bullets that may find their way into the hatch and finding purchase in my body. 

Before I realised it, I was shielding my eyes from a bright flash… then another… and another. With every flash there was more gun fire from the ground. The ship must be firing at the officers. “Ship, I order you to cease fire.”

“Denied. Command Personnel must be protected from all indigenious life forms.” More fire erupted. Now black smoke obstructed my vision as the unpleasant aroma of burnt flesh filled the bay. 

“Ship, why are you firing on those people? They cannot cause you harm.” I panicked just wanting the carnage to stop.

“Command Personnel must be protected from all indigenious life forms.” Damn this ship, those bullets could technically kill me, but this single minded machine is lazy and took the most efficient route. This needed to stop, I needed to stop this.

“Ship, fly away from here, head to my house,” I gave the ship my physical address and hoped it would have some understanding of the American mailing system. “And stay out of sight of anyone on the ground until you reach my house.”

Through the hatch I saw that the ship was complying with my orders. At least it wasn’t firing at the officers anymore. “Ship when I issue a command I want you to respond that you heard me and whether you are compiling or not.”

“Preferences set.” It’s like speaking to one of the techys at the base. You need to set parameters for them and they would comply, but only after you have an understanding on what you want to hear and when. 

I still have not figured out how the AI has been speaking to me. Considering that the walls and floors can materialize and dematerialize at will, it couldn’t be that far fetched that it could vibrate the walls to produce sound. It's a very strange technology.

As we flew I decided it was time to ask some more questions. “Ship, how are the… patients? Will they survive?”

I tried to disassociate myself from my worry as much as possible, but I doubt all my emotions were hidden behind my mask. Not that the machine would care.

“Unknown, the injections have been administered.” I knew I was going to regret it but curiosity got the better of me. It always does, it always has. Everytime someone mentions something I don’t understand I just have to know the answer or else I’ll get a headache. But sometimes, a lot of the time, when I ask for details some techy’s just love to talk. One time Reyes blathered to me for three hours about her theories of the universe. Let me tell you I will not be asking her about wormholes anytime soon. This had the air of jumping down the proverbial rabbit hole, but I had to ask.

“What are these Injections?”

“They are us,” Us? Did the ship just refer to itself as a plural. What does that mean? I didn’t like the unknown aspect of what the ship said but I choose not to comment on that either. Bothering the ship won't make it work any faster. But ‘Us’... What sort of beings refer to themselves as us? Collective entities maybe… 

“Besides myself and the patients. Are there any other living beings on board?” The voice hesitated for a few moments.

“Answer… unclear.” 

“Hmmm” What was unclear? I thought about it for a few minutes. I thought about the extraordinary things that could possible be on this ship that could make the answer uncertain. I had a few unpleasant flashes of frozen heads in the interior of this ship, maybe even zombies. Who knows? But a collective entity… “Ship, do you consider yourself to be alive?”

“Unclear,” there it was. The ship considered itself to be an independent being, if not alive. If the ship thinks of itself as a being I should treat it as such. Even though deep down I believed it was a tool, and not a tool of those murderous Centaurs. But of some unknown race from some far away world, that released these torments on my planet. No… on the universe. It doesn’t matter except for when I learn where these beasts are, when the opportunity presents itself, and it will present itself. I will destroy them. I will destroy them all. How many people have they killed? How many people will they kill? I will stop them if it's the last thing I do. 

“Ship, what should I call you?” If the ship considered itself a being then it must have a name.

“How do you wish to address us?” Or not, a series of expletives come to mind, but I vetoed them. Seeing as it didn’t seem very useful in the long run to refer to my ship as The Fucking Cunt. Who knows how long I will be stuck on the ship, anyway. I searched deep in myself for a suitable name for this murderous ship. The past ten years of being a history professor has finally come to some use. 

“I’m going to name you Dutchmen,” I stated finding the name amusing. A grim smirk came across my face. I realize that it is the first sort of smile I’ve had since this whole fiasco started. Not that I was much of a smiler to begin with but still. 

“Rename complete.” I snorted

“Ok Dutchmen, have we reached my house yet?”

“We reached our destination approximately 5.6 minutes ago.” I was annoyed but it was my own fault. I have a feeling that I will be annoyed at my own failings as this ship's commander for as long as it doesn’t drop me from its hull. 

“For now on give me a sixty second warning when we approach a destination, unless otherwise specified.”

“Preferences set,” I may never get used to this ship's monotone voice. 

“Are there people inside the house, Dutchmen?”

“Yes, two.” Hopefully that’s Anya and Olivia. 

“Ok, Dutchmen I’d like to go down to the surface. Place me on the beach by my house.”

“Denied, Command Personnel must be protected from all indigenous life.” Dammit that sentence again. 

“Fine, what do I have to do to be protected then?” There must be some way for the machine to let me out of here. I will not be trapped on this ship like a prisoner. I need fresh air, trees, and blue skies. I am Trikru through and through. 

“Command Personnel must undergo injections?” I hate needles.

“What are these injections?” I know I may not understand, but I was not being pumped full of alien nonsense without knowing at least partly what I’m getting into.

“The injections are comprised of us” Us… us… us… what does that mean? It had said that before. Thinking for a few minutes I remember a conversation I had with professor Reyes over the benefits of 3-D printing vs nano machines. Long story short Reyes believes that the next step in humanity creating cheap and efficient mass production capabilities will be the development of advanced 3-D printing. But what if another species saw the easier route to be nano machines. What if this sh...er… Dutchmen is in reality millions and billions of trillions nano machines? That would explain why she can alter her interior at will. She's just moving pieces of herself out of the way. 

“So you want to inject yourself into my body? What will that do to me?” I could except nano machines being constructed to become a ship. That wasn’t outside the realm of imagination. But what exactly did these nano bots expect to do to my person? There have been plenty of experiments done on me and all of them being a special sort of hell. I have no doubt this one would not disappoint. 

“We would provide reinforcement to all biological functions. As well as assist in all resoritive efforts as a result of injury or sickness.” 

Reinforcement… Does it mean that it will inject nanobots into my body that will make me stronger? Like, stronger bones, muscles, maybe even… I don’t know what else. I’m almost afraid to ask. Steeling myself I think that I have no choice. “Will the injections hurt?”

Dutchmen seemed to hesitate again before answering. “From testing on initial subjects, the process causes distress.”

Distress… right… I’m guessing that will mean I will be in excruciating pain. It is injecting small slivers of metal into my body and rearranging it to be ‘better’. “Ok Dutchmen, initiate the injections.”

Little versions of the black spindling arms reached out and gripped my arms and legs pulling them spread eagle another two wrapped their way around my waist and most uncomfortably out of all the arms grips had to be the one worming its way around my neck. “Are all the restraints necessary?” I grunt out trying to find a more comfortable position with no apparent success. 

“Prior test subjects have experienced insanity, which led to self-mutilation.” That doesn’t sound like the right chain of events. Five more arms appeared in front of me. They began to thin out into a needle like present silver dribblets, of what I presume is nanites, they seemed to drip from the ends and onto the floor. I suppose if the whole ship is made of the things it doesn’t matter where the needle comes from.

Once the needle was a few centimeters from my skin they stopped. “Confirmation needed to enact injections.”

Of course it now asks for permission. Dutchmen didn’t ask permission when she snatched me from my dinner plans. Speaking of which I’m starving, maybe when this carefully understated hell is over I can find some food, maybe pizza. “You have my permission.”

The several hours were nothing but a living nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chapter. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you, for all the comments, bookmarks, kudos and hits.
> 
> I have had an absolutely terrible week between a depressive episode caused from my dysphoria. I start T next week and... IDK guess planning to be happy doesn't mean I am happy right now. I try not to complain about my life but I haven't had a bad week in a really long time and it sort of hit me like a tone of bricks. 
> 
> Well... I'm sorry if this chapter sucks because of that. I edited it yesterday and well... there may be an excessive number of mistakes.
> 
> Anyway I still have a huge back log so this shouldn't effect my uploads at all. Thank you for reading, enjoy the chapter.

Ok, Griffin. What the literal fuck have you done now? 

Naked? Check.

Restrained? Check.

Blind? Check.

Sex…? No… Thank god

This is a very strange evening. “Ray,” I call hoping this is one of my roommates' strange pranks.

“Ray!” I say again a little louder with no response again, “This isn’t funny, FUCKER!” 

After a few more moments of silence, I decide this isn’t Raven. She can’t hold herself together long enough to prank me like this. I’d hear her laughing at the very least and at worst gloating about her triumph, whatever glory one could get out of this. 

Now what did I do last night? I got home from my shift at the hospital. Drank a bottle or two of wine with Ray then passed out. It was supposed to be a long wonderful sleep, after an eighteen hour shift like ten… twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep. 

Then I remembered the wicked dream I had of being snactched from my bed by a big snake arm. Meeting Lexa freaking Woods, nobody should be that hot, while pointing a gun at your face, Raven made no exaggeration in the sex appeal department. Oh and that dress… I mean there was blood all on it but still. If I didn’t get… Well shit, I died. That murdership dropped me like a bad date on prom night. 

I wiggle the fingers on my right hand, remembering the sensation of them being sliced off, tapping them on the metal surface. Thank God they are still there, their disappearance would have put a real hamper on being a surgeon. Maybe that wasn’t a dream… So where the hell am I?

Blinking a few times I realize that I have either gone blind or the room is incredibly dark. Either way it is not all that appealing an experience. Where in the world…

Before I had a chance to wonder further a hatch opened to the left of me and light made its both welcome and painful appearance. After being blinded again for the exact opposite reason I was before, I get a good look at my surroundings, and after a few seconds I wish I was in the dark again. 

Wrapped around my arms and wrist were smaller versions of the black arm that brought me to this death trap of a ship. That essentially confirmed that I am at least still… well more like on the ship again. Though that wasn’t the scariest part, what was really freaky was the kid, maybe thirteen or fourteen, with five of those freaky little arms poking into his skin. His pale skin looked like it was trembling, like how you would imagine bugs crawling under your skin. But other than that strange and disturbing movement there was no sign of life from the boy. 

Is that what happened to me? Fuck I hope not. But deep down I knew that's exactly what happened. 

What the hell are they doing to him? Despite my prevailing disgust, The doctor in me wanted to know in great detail what this ship is putting that poor boy through. It even more so wanted to know what it did to me after I died. Many theories popped into my head and none of them seemed even remotely thesable. 

Maybe those conspiracy theorists who have been ranting all these years about aliens probing them were not crazy and in fact woke up in the very situation I am in right now. I suddenly felt the need to apologize to Raven about not taking her impromptu Alien Invasion/Doomsday Prepper talks to heart. Because if this wasn’t a time to huddle in a bunker with canned food and a shotgun I don’t know when that time will come. 

The crawling sensation had to come from the red-headed boys skin. Were the needles injecting some sort of robot into him, possibly to be reconstructive? If these aliens really had as much time as ‘they’ say to study humanity, they could easily adapt their equipment to heal the human body. As she got a closer look at the boy she realised he looks an awful lot like the Professor. Maybe this is her son.

As I was deep in thought, the restraints holding released. Before these aliens could change their minds I hopped off the table and cautiously made my way towards the now open hatchway.

Unlike the the testing cubicles I was in before or even the medbay, if that's what you would call those rooms. This room was larger than any of the rooms I've been in before. This one was the size of a living room instead of a closet. But other than that there were no signs on the importance of this room over any other. 

“Hello,” I say, getting really sick of the silent treatment. Again there was no answer. 

Is this another test? I start thinking. But that doesn’t seem quite right. Why would it drop me out of the ship unless I failed? It wouldn’t retest me because I have already failed. It would be better if it found new people to test who could possibly not be failures. 

Who made these ships? 

Another hatch opened as I walked around the room. Then next thing I knew I was slammed against the floor, an arm pressed against my throat. Dazed, confused and struggling to breathe, I try to focus onto what has me pinned to the floor. Greenish-gold eyes look back at me with a plethora of emotions anger, confusion, rage, fear. So many things ran through those eyes it was basically impossible to keep track of all of them.

“Clarke,” A gravelly voice clicked from above. “You’re alive?”

I realise then that this is Lexa Woods. The beautiful brunette from earlier. “...Lexa...” I grunt out in between breaths. 

The pressure on my neck begins to lesson just a bit. But not enough to make my situation any less tangible. “Are you real?”

What the hell is she talking about? “Yes… I’m real… Could you please… stop choking… me… now?” 

Immediately the pressure lifted and I could breathe freely again. I don’t try to sit up seeing as the brunette hasn’t moved from straddling my waist. I realise that Lexa looks like she has been through hell. Her green summer dress was ripped to shreds. Underneath, her skin was covered in claw marks. She was bleeding but not in any color Clarke had ever seen. Her blood was black and underneath that blood was like a sheet of metal. Was that normal for her, or is that another thing this ship did to her?

I reach up attempting to examine one of her cuts. But my hand was snatched by a shocking amount of speed and force. It rocked my whole body causing me shooting pain. “Don’t touch me,” Lexa growled out. Sounding less gravelly now.

“There is something in your skin.” I grimaced looking up at her face. One of her eyes didn’t look quite right. It was a different shade of green, and didn’t move like the left eye. In fact it didn’t move at all. “And your eye is out of its socket.”

To say the least Lexa was looking rough. Even her braided hair was out of sorts, some of it even looked to be torn out. Both the left and the right sides of her head had lost patches of hair.

“I’m fine.” Lexa grunts. “The nanites will fix it.”

The woman begins to scratch at the proptosis eye as she stares down at me. Nanites? Like those miniature robots Raven and Monty fight about. I wish that I had paid attention to them. Nanites… That would explain the metal under Lexa’s skin and the movement under the boy’s in the medbay. 

I realize that with her one good eye the brunette is looking at me far differently than she had before. When she had her gun trained on my forehead her green eyes were cold and unfeeling, as if I wasn’t even there, or at least that I didn’t matter. A few moments ago when she had thrust to the floor attempting to choke me to death, there were thousands of emotions but there was one clear message, ‘Don’t fuck with me or I’ll kill you.’ There was a new emotion now, one that I can only guess has something to do with my current state of dress. 

Raven loves to tell stories of the mysterious, and resoundingly single Lexa Woods. Ever since she has been hired at Arkadia University, Ray has made it her sworn mission to find me ‘sexual acqantiences’, as she oh so finely put it. Lexa Woods was at the top of the list every single time. I couldn’t go a month without hearing something about the illustrious professor, and now with her sitting in my lap, well defined muscles showing all over her body. I couldn’t help but get some ideas, even with her body being battered to hell. 

It was that moment that it really hit me that I was as nude as the day I was born. I began to glare at the woman above me when her eyes seemed to stay at one particular area at about chest height. 

Clearing my throat seemed to get her to notice that she had been caught staring, again. Her face developed into a deep shade of red. “Sorry,” the brunette mumbles seeming to get redder by the second, even the tips of her ears began to burn in embarrassment. I suppose this was a small benefit of being perved, and certainly made for a pretty sight. 

Suddenly she freezes as if something scared her. She looked around slowly looking for something but could not find it. 

“Dutchmen,” Lexa whisper yells “Is that you?” 

She hops off of me with a speed and grace that didn’t seem human. After I barely realized that she even moved, the brunette was pacing the width of the room, Looking as though she was having a conversation that no one but herself could hear. “What the hell is going on? What happened to...”

There was a loud thud and liquid began to drip down my face as I pushed myself up the wall, into a sitting position. I looked up to find Lexa holding her face, more of her strange black blood dripping between her fingers. She looked dazed as if she hadn’t expected to run into the wall. As if she didn’t expect to move at all.

I didn’t think she was that fast when we first met. What had the ship done to her? 

The brunette slumped to my left, looking exhausted. Covered in cuts and bruises, barely containing the blood pouring from her nose. “I’m sorry.” she mutters. Wiping her now crooked nose as if it would make the bleeding stop.

“I can help with that,” She looks at me as if I have grown a second head. “If you don’t want your nose to set crooked then let me set it.”

I took the grunt and grimace following my statement as an agreement and quickly popped her nose back into place. If the following glare said anything, it was that the feeling was more painful than her nose actually breaking in the first place. “Thank you, Clarke.”

“Ahh… you're welcome.” I flushed, not knowing how to take genuine praise from the beautiful woman while naked that had nothing to do with my sexual capabilities. “What is going on? The last thing I remember is being dropped by this death trap of a ship. And who was that boy back there in the scary tentacle porn room?” I gesture towards the still open hatchway that I previously came through.

“Ohhh…” Lexa’s eyes widened in shock at my description of the medbay. She became that same shade of red that I am slowly starting to find becoming my favorite shade. “The boy who is in there is my son, Aden. This murderous ship snatched him up when we were going out to dinner. Then the fucking goats ran him through and left him for dead.” 

Excluding when she pinned me to the deck. This was the most emotion I’ve seen from the woman. She looked broken on a level only to be described as despair. Clarke has seen a few people who have lost their children to a terrible accident and it's never pretty. Especially when they make it to the hospital thinking there may still be hope and even then there was nothing anyone could do. 

“I’m so sorry,” I say resting a hopefully comforting hand on her outstretched arm. Nothing will really make it better but hopefully knowing that she is not alone helps a bit. Also I was pretty sure she was losing her mind, and it was best not to aggravate crazy people. 

“Did you see him? Was he… Was my son still…?” The desperation in her voice was damn near unbearable. How do you describe to someone what I saw in that room? If Lexa really wanted to know how Aden was she would walk the ten steps into the room and look. She didn’t want that, they never did. I lied… well at least partly. 

“The machines were injecting him with something. I’m sure they were doing the best they can.” I didn’t know that. Hell I didn’t know if they were even machines. I didn’t even know if they actually injected him with something. There were too many unknowns, so many unknowns with this whole situation. So like any doctor trying not to crush a parents dreams, I gave a partial truth. 

“Ok,” There was the mask again. It was odd watching someone put up their walls. Most people can’t pull it off completely. Lexa was not like most people. But her eyes said it all as clear as day. She was distraught more than she ever wanted to admit, maybe even to herself. She reminded her a lot of Raven. No wonder her friend had a damn near fetishisis everything involving the brunette.

“Lexa, what is going on? Where are we?” Whatever process she was just going through seemed to end. She looked at me with eyes born of a pissed off, depressed determination, but determination all the same. 

“I have a lot to explain… but before I do, I want to know something.” 

“Ok, I’m naked on an alien ship, that I’m more than positive killed me, right after snatching me from a wine induced sleep, then subsequently brought me back to life using what might as well be magic. Soooo… I suppose you can know something about me.”

I don’t think she expected me to say something so crass because the carefully laden mask that she has been putting up over the past five minutes was quickly replaced by a bit of shock and a heavy blush. Raven was also right that Lexa is fun to fluster. “Well… umm… It’s just I was wondering if you had anything against saving the world against an unknown enemy.”

That might have just been the last thing I ever thought I would be asked. Save the world from an unknown enemy. “What do you mean save the world?”

“Well this ship isn’t the only one out there. They are picking up people all over the planet and testing them just like this ship did you, me and countless others. But that’s just part of the issue they’re doing all of this for a reason and it isn’t because they want to study humanity. If the conspiracy theories are even remotely correct they have already had plenty of time to do that. 

“So why are they picking us up? They could have just killed us all in the night, or they could have just continued experimenting on a few specimens.” Lexa paused, thinking about what she was going to say.

“I think they need us. For what I’m not quite sure, but whatever it is. It cannot be good. I haven’t gotten the specifics out of Dutchmen just yet, but that is mostly because I am not good with computers. You have to ask her specific things or she gives you unhelpful answers. Anyway my point sort of is what sort of people do you think would survive these sorts of tests?”

I thought about it for a bit and didn’t like the conclusions I was coming to. “Paranoid people who sleep with guns and knives under their pillows. Maybe a few other lucky bastards, but not the majority. Speaking of, why did you have a gun? I thought you were eating dinner with your son.”

“I could say the same of you. Who just casually sleeps with a Smith and Wesson .500?”

“People with bad ex’s. What’s your excuse?”

“A lot of people would like to see me dead.” She said it so resolutely that it was hard to believe that people wanting her dead was anything but true.

“Why would anyone want to kill you, Professor?” 

“That will have to wait for a little while. I don’t want to tell the story twice and there is another person who needs to hear it. Dutchmen place Clarke and I on the beach in front of my residence then make yourself unviewable to anyone standing on the ground, I will signal you when to pick us up.”

Suddenly I was wrapped around the torso by the mysterious black arm and more confused than ever. If Lexa is right about the kinds of people who survive the test these ships are giving, then there are a lot of dangerous people with advanced technology. What has my life come to? I don’t know, but whatever is about to happen I really hope I get a front row seat.


	4. Chapter 4

To say I was disappointed that my son has not recovered yet would be an understatement. I was devastated. The hope monkey has gotten me so thoroughly that it might as well strangle me where I stand. But I couldn’t let that stop me. I had a new mission and it needed to be completed. I had a planet to save. From what, I have yet to know, but if I let myself succumb to grief I would be dishonoring him, myself and my late wife. I would not let that happen… again.

Dutchmen was most certainly not gentle when she lowered me and Clarke to the ground, adding more than a few bruises to my already incredible amount for the day. Luckily the nanites would heal me quickly, I could already feel them sewing together my injured eye. It’s crazy how the idea of tiny robots being in my system has become no big deal in a short amount of time. 

It says a lot about my upbringing that something as strange and weird as an alien starship made from nanites injecting pieces of themselves into my body to make it stronger. Possible stronger than any other person on the planet. Well unless others on the ships took the injections. But I would guess that most of the people in these ships will be hyper paranoid maybe even completely self-serving, I doubt any of them even know about the injections. 

The moment my feet hit the sand I put my hands in the air. “Put your hands in the air,” I whisper hoping Clarke will follow my lead. 

“Why would I do that? Isn’t this your house?” Despite her questions she did as I said. 

“Yes, and my bodyguard is…” That's when the laser site was put in between Clarke’s eyes. “Let me do the talking, and do not move.”

I tried to stress how serious the impending danger was. “Keep your hands up Aliens or I'll blow out the green goop you call your thinker.” 

“Thinker??? Are you serious? Put your gun down Clarke is a friend not an Alien.” I say in my native tongue, Trigedasleng, hoping that would placate her a bit. I should have known that would fail.

A shot flew so close to my head I had to duck to prevent it from clipping my ear. How did I know to duck? “Shut up! You must have scanned Heda’s brain to trick me into trusting you, how else would you know our language. Where is Heda? 

“That doesn’t make any sense. Anya it's me, please.”

“MOM…” Olivia yelled from some place in the dark house. A few of the lights flipped on and there is the patter of running. 

“JOK… Olivia do not come out here.” The laser site on Clarke’s head shivered slightly and I knew Anya was distracted. It was then I made my move. I moved fast way too fast, I still haven’t gotten full control over my new body, if that is what you would call it. So when I was moving over fifteen meters of beach in under a tenth of a second it was nothing if not shocking. I made a mental note that I needed to test out my new abilities before I next engaged in any form of physical activity. 

“What the FU…” She almost got a shot off as I closed on her. It was a close thing, I didn’t think it would kill me or else Dutchman wouldn’t have let me off the ship. But even with all that ‘protecting Command Personal’ nonsense, I didn’t want to risk it. Especially when she was hovering directly overhead. Though, when I grabbed Anya’s shooting arm there was a definitive snap of bones either breaking or shattering, I was not sure. But if the pained scream that came from my First was any indication it was extremely painful. I was shocked, how did I get so strong? Strong enough to snap bones with a flick of my wrist.

She dropped her gun and normally I would have stopped but I already had momentum so I couldn’t stop myself. I drove my already rotating knee into her lower abdomen. I purposely pulled back my attack as much as I could, not wanting to knock my first out. Plus, considering I already broke her arm there was no need to embarrass her any further. This was the first time I ever beat her in a fight after all, it will surely be a crushing defeat. 

She collapsed, as I slowed my momentum with a roll I analyzed my surroundings. Anya was groaning behind me most certainly in an unimaginable amount of pain. I mean hell I most certainly shattered her forearm into tiny pieces with my bare hands, then subsequently dropped her. No amount of training can prepare you for that. “Sorry Anya I couldn’t have you shooting me. The ship might have decided to take action and kill you. Frankly… I didn’t want to take any chances.”

“Fuck… you,” At least she was still cognitively there, even if she looked to be in a significant amount of pain. Laying on her chest, she had her broken arm tucked underneath her. She looked like she was trying to push herself to her knees with very little success. 

“When we are done talking I’ll have the ship fix you up. Now stand up stop being a baby, it's only a broken arm.” I know that wasn’t very kind and most certainly insensitive but I know she could handle it. We have been through worse together, she has put me through worse. 

“Mom…” A terrified voice said from the sliding door. Olivia standing on the back porch overlooking the sored seen. I felt terrible. From my daughter's perspective, I just dropped her Aunty Anya who was protecting her from aliens, right after her mother and a naked woman are placed on the ground by the same ship that as far as she knew killed her brother. I really fucked this up. 

“Hey sweetheart, there is nothing to worry about. Anya and I just had a little… umm… run in.” Great parenting… Idiot. 

“Are you really my mom? Aunty said that aliens are stealing peoples bodies and replacing them with changelings.” Damnit Anya and your fucking consiperacies. Who tells a sixteen year old that their mother is a changeling? I almost don’t regret breaking her arm, almost. 

“When you were seven, you and Aden decided that you were going to catch Santa Claus and force him to give you all his presents. Instead when I went to put the presents out, you hit me over the head with my favorite lamp, tied me up and questioned me all Christmas day about where I took Santa and hid the world’s presents. The only reason you even released me is because Anya explained that Santa wasn’t real.” Anya teased me for years about me being snuck up on by my children. If I didn’t order her to never tell a soul I’m sure she would have christened a newspaper article to commemorate the day. “Would a changeling know that?”

“Mom…” She came running into my arms. Well more like I was crushed into her chest as she came barreling into me. Luckily due to my now nanite enhanced strength I could avoid being knocked over by the girl. 

“I was so scared, when you went up in that ship I assumed it would kill you too. I ran to Miss Baker's house and asked her to drive me home and told Anya everything that happened.” Knowing my bodyguard as well as I did, she must have gone into ultra paranoid mode. This reaffirmed my actions were necessary because once Anya was in protection mode. Pain was the only way to get through to her, especially when you were on the wrong end of her gun. 

“I’m sorry I scared you. But… I need you to pack your stuff, we are leaving. It is not safe here anymore.” She looked at me in shock and was about to ask questions but was interrupted. 

“Lexa… you broke her radius and her ulna. Was that seriously necessary? What the fuck is wrong with you?” I forgot about Clarke. I turned around, my daughter being dragged along with me in my turn, visible and vocally distressed by the move. 

“Clarke… I forgot you were here.” She was crouched beside Anya avoiding the occasional half assed slap that the downed woman threw. I put up my best unconcerned face and even tried to grin. “Can I get you some clothes?”

She glared at me. One of those glares that turn your blood to ice and lets you know that you are in so much trouble and also... you’re an asshole. Costia used to direct those glares towards me at least once a week. The same sort of fear gripped me then as it does now.

“You just broke this woman's arm into at least a half dozen pieces and have nothing to say about it.” She sounded annoyed, probably more like pissed off. It made me feel like a chastised child, who only felt bad because they got caught. My fake grin easily slid from my face at the thought that I wasn’t being let out of this that easily.

“She did threaten to spatter your brains down the beach. Plus who knows how Dutchmen would have reacted to their Command Personal being injured. I’m sure she wouldn’t have reacted kindly to me being shot.”

“This doesn’t make any sense. What is the ‘Dutchmen’? What do you mean by Command Personal? What’s with the black shit running down your leg that must be blood? You have fucking lost your shit Woods. We need to get this woman to a hospital.” I nod forgetting that most of the questions I have been asking the Dutchmen have been in my own head. 

“Let's go inside for a bit and talk about it.” I suggest hoping to placate the Clarke. 

“Shithead… I hate you… Fucker.” I couldn’t tell if my bodyguard was directing her rath at me, or if she was pissed off that the nude blonde was refusing to let her get up. I would guess that it was a combination of both. 

“Please Ma’am hold still. I’m trying to make sure your arm doesn’t cause lasting damage.” Clarke didn’t seem to be taking any sort of crap from her impromptu patient and has placed the majority of herself across Anya’s chest to keep her down. Anya to her credit was putting up a hell of a fight to try to remove the blonde from her person. But with one arm broken and pinned and the other trapped under Clarkes knee it was a hopeless effort. I wondered how many times Clarke has done this. I wondered how many times Clarke has done this naked. My face flushed when I realised where my mind was going. Focus idiot. 

Before Anya attempted to put Clarke in a reverse triangle hold I intervened. “Anya behave, let Clarke help you, she’s a doctor.” 

“Never… You aliens won’t be probing me, I’ll kill you all.”

Slapping at my daughter’s hands to signal her to release me, I walked over to where my bodyguard is strone out in the sand. Standing in her field of vision I give her my most commanding face I can muster at the moment. “Let the doctor help you…” I growled. We had things to talk about and if I didn’t explain to them what is going on it would just piss me off later. 

“Sha, Heda.” Anya whimpered shocked eyes almost popping out of her skull. It’s been a long time since I had used this tone, this seriousness. I have a feeling that this won’t be the last time before this day is over that I have to put on this mask. I may never have a another day where I can no longer be Heda and I don’t know how I feel about that. But right now I have to focus on getting my family and Clarke onboard the Dutchmen, at least.

“Ok, then. Let’s go inside we have a lot to talk about and not a lot of time.” I turned and walked back towards my house. I assumed the two stragglers behind me would follow, hopeful my impatient mood was imparted on them. “Olivia, would you please go get Clarke some clothes and pack you, Anya and Aden clothes. Also I assume you know where the special closet is.”

She nods, though she looked like she wanted to ask a thousand questions as well, at least she gets what kind of mood I’m in. “Good pack all the weapons and bring them downstairs we’ll be needing them.”

A flash of fear popped into her eyes, right before she turned and trotted off in the direction of the stairs. I followed her, I had my own things to retrieve. 

When I walked into my room on the second floor, I opened Costia’s closet. It's been a long time since I opened this door and if I’m being perfectly honest with myself I never wanted to open this door again. I reach for the box I have hidden in the corner and pull it into my lap. 

There’s just one thing in the box and I haven’t seen it in almost eighteen years. My coat… The Commander’s coat… The official sign of leadership for my tribe… My people… and I abandoned them when they needed me most and what for? To sit on my ass all day, drink, and torture young minds with my drivel about war, and politics, and economics that none of them give a shit about.

No… 

I feel something deep inside of myself emerge that I haven’t felt for years. Motivation… I feel motivated to do something. Not the motivation I had when I abandoned TonDC, to be with Costia. Not the motivation I have had for the past ten years to bury my grief in a bottle. No for maybe the first time in my life I’m going to do something, I’m going to use the tools I’ve been given to do what I couldn’t do all those years ago. Lead… 

I guess time will tell. I pull on my coat and I feel the weight of the heavy leather sets on my shoulders. I didn’t feel as weighted as it used to, the metal plates strategically placed over vital areas didn’t rub as roughly as they once did. Maybe it was the nanites making my body tougher. Although I don’t think so, maybe it was me that has changed. 

I must have been caught in my own mind because Olivia called for me from the doorway. “Mom… What are you wearing?” When I turned to look at her mouth slightly agape as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. I looked at the full length mirror to see why she was so shocked. I had to admit I looked impressive. I looked taller, more confident, more sure. I don't remember the last time I looked so self assured. 

I paused for a few moments not sure how I wanted to answer her. I grab the rest of my things from the back of the closet, the shoulder holster for my Beretta 92, the dozen balanced daggers placed strategically in hidden sheathes within the cloak, and last but not least, my sword. Crafted for me on the day of my ascension by the Flamekeepers. I rub the matching broken infinity symbol engraved in the blade that is on the back of my neck. 

“There the same, your tattoo. What does it mean?” She asked. Over the years she has asked many different questions about my tattoos. I have always avoided them because all they do is bring up bad memories. But she should know. 

“I haven’t always been a history professor.” I say thinking that to be a good place to start. 

“I know that, you are not very good at it.” Olivia smirks, as I scowl a bit at the admonishment. 

“I’m not that bad, I just lack patience.” I grumble, knowing she had me there. On several occasions I have been known to lose my temper at my students. “I think the others should hear the story too. don’t you think?”

I handed her the sword I worked so hard to gain. I didn’t deserve it. “Why are you giving me this?” 

“Because It would be what your mother would have wanted. Try not to break her, she's one of a kind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter. I promise next weeks will be longer and not so well... boring.


	5. Chapter 5

When I walked down the stairs, the scene was surprisingly calm. Anya was cradling her wounded arm close to her chest, grumbling curses directed towards my ancestry. Clarke was out of sight but I could hear her in the bathroom, probably putting on some clothes that Olivia brought her.

I decided that I should confront my bodyguard before she blows a gasket. “Hey, first.” I say in a hopefully calming voice. 

“Don’t talk to me,” She was mad. Maybe I went a bit too far with the knee to the chest. She wasn’t looking at me. In fact she was glaring at the far wall actively avoiding my gaze. “You scared the shit out of me, playing with aliens, getting yourself captured… Aden…” The silence at the sound of my son's name could have made a giraffe sound loud. 

He’ll be fine, the ship will save him, it saved Clarke. What is a few more minutes?

“I’m sorry,” I really did mean that. I forgot how Anya would have felt about this whole thing. As far as she would have known I was dead and so was my son. She reacted in the only way she knew how. 

“Look… what happened… I saw that ship drop my son from the sky and I was so angry… Anya… I never thought I could be that angry at anyone, anything. I never wanted that for him. How could I let something like that happen to my son. I keep thinking if I was standing three steps to the right that ship would have gotten me first and I would have saved him from that pain.” I paused knowing I lost a bit of my composure.

“I’m barely holding my shit together, first.”I had to do better at controlling my emotions. I’ve been out of practice for too long. I stood heading towards the liquor cabinet.

“What are you doing?” I felt Anya glare at my back as I made my way across the room.

“I need a drink.” I said bluntly.

“Haven’t you had enough? You’ve been drinking for years. Isn’t now… a good time to stop.” Anya says, she never appreciated my drinking. I doubt anyone has, I was messed up for a long time after Costia disappeared and the habit of drinking never really disappeared. “You need to sob…”

“Now is not a good time to go disrupt the chemistry of my blood. Plus I would rather not experience withdrawal until things are more… settled.” I pull out every flask I have ever owned and started filling them with various different liquors. I must have looked ridiculous but who knows when the next chance I will have to stock up. 

“You’re a fool.” Anya huffed trying to stop me from pouring myself a whisky sour. “I have watched you drink yourself into oblivion and even after you are attacked by an alien spaceship and are wearing your coat you are still going to drink.”

“Just a little, I'm not going to detox when people need me.” I state slapping her hand away. 

“Yeah… are you going to explain what is going on?” Clarke says, stepping from the bathroom. She was wearing what looked like Olivia's clothes, Mine and Aden’s were too small, seeing as Clarke’s chest size alone would exclude her from our shirts. All of Anya’s clothes were some form of leather, I didn’t think Clarke would like that. Though I personally wouldn’t mind. “And Lexa is right, it is incredibly dangerous for an alcoholic to stop cold turkey. It is better to wean yourself off.”

I gesture towards Clarke, glad to know someone understands. “See Clarke gets it.” I stir my drink once more before I go to sit back on the couch. Anya just sighed in resignation, though she looked like she wanted to punch me despite the pain she must be in. 

“When the ship picked us up it put us through a series of tests. Aggression, Initiative, Bargaining, Leadership, and Tenacity.” I ticked off all the tests on my fingers. “Clarke was… evicted from the ship after the Leadership test I passed the last one. It told me that I was now ‘Command Personnel’. That means that this current ship is now under my control, at least until it deems otherwise. 

“The first thing I ordered it to do was to revive Clarke and Aden. It has so far succeeded on one front. I have yet to receive word about Aden, although I don’t think the ship would tell me.” I took a sip of my drink for the first time, I grimaced, I made it to sour. I hate it when it is too sour. I considered dumping it out but it was immediately snacted from my hands and replaced with a new glass. When I sipped it was far better, I looked up at Olivia and nodded approvingly. I didn’t know where she learned to make such a thing but I wasn’t about to complain.

“The ship was, and still is, super sensitive to harm being caused to my person. When I was picking up Aden one of the officers fired upon my ship. It destroyed them all. It only stopped firing once I left the area. Then I came straight here. I tried to exit the ship but it kept saying ‘Command Personnel must be protected from indeginous life forms’. So I asked it the obvious question. ‘How will I be protected if I leave the ship?’

“The answer was to inject pieces of itself into my body.” I stopped waiting for the ensuing questions. 

“What do you mean by itself?” Anya asks

“Nanites,” Clarke said. “The ship is made out of nanites. Raven is going to be pissed when she hears about this.” 

I agreed with her, nodding. “Yes, they made me stronger, faster, and they help my body heal, faster than ever before.”

“Did they make your blood black too?” Clake asked obviously intrigued to know the answer. It was interesting watching the blonde, she was blatantly more interested in the specifics of why my blood is black than her fear over the previous day. 

“No, that… that happened a long time ago.” I say knowing that I had to explain it eventually, so why not now. “I was born into a tribe known as Trikru. They were known for many things, but most notable their expertise as mercenaries. Everyone hired us, anywhere there was a disputed territory, family feud, or even technology to steal you could bet Trikru was involved.

“My parents died before I remember them and I was orphaned. Many children were left parentless in our village for a number of reasons Bekka Pramheda took us all in and cared for us. Pramheda means The first Commander, they call her the first because before her, our people were very poor. She was not of our blood, but she gave our people hope that life would get better, and above all she brought us a cure. Our people had some sort of genetic disease that made us vulnerable to sickness of all kinds.”

“Bekka Pramheda,” Clarke rolled the name around her tongue slowly as if she was trying to remember. “Black hair, brown eyes, kinda pale, average height.”

“That sounds like her.” Anya said glaring at the blonde. 

“Becca Franco she was a Neuroscientist that disappeared in the seventies, after she was accused of performing unethical experiments on children. The government swept her discoveries under the table and she wasn’t seen after words. No one knows what she was doing research on. My mother and her went to graduate school together, maybe they were the same person.” Clarke hummed thinking, I choose not to comment seeing as I had nothing to add. 

“She changed us, my siblings and I, some of us became stronger, some of them died.I’m not exactly sure what she did, but those that survived the treatment awoke with black blood. I was always so sickly many of us were, but after that it was like we were brand new, maybe even better.”

“It didn’t affect the rest of us like that. I think she improved it so it wasn’t so potent and less likely to kill.” Anya said. “The rest of us bleed red.”

“And, none of you had a problem with her experimenting on children.” Clarke snapped looking disgusted.

“Our tribe was harsh, weakness was unacceptable. It was our way.” Anya said, Clarke glared at her.

“That is cruel.”

“It was our way.” Anya said, shrugging though not altogether disagreeing. “Pramheda was our savior. She healed us, made sure there was always food to go around, even for those who couldn’t contribute to the tribe. Our people would do whatever she asked of us and we did. She had contacts with government types who were always coming and going from her chambers. Mostly Americans at the beginning, I wasn’t aware of all the details, I was too young. Indra would have been privy to more information.”

I nodded agreeing. “I was eight before Becca allowed me to join our Warriors. She was not happy by it. But I was persistent so she let Anya train me, I think she wanted me to give up.”

Anya snorted. “She totally did. You were weak, small and had two left feet. She told me ‘make her strong’ normally she would say to go easy on people, but not you. She wanted you to come crawling back to her and be a nerd. But you wouldn’t give up, and I tried every trick in the book.”

“You almost killed me,” I stated, glowering at the memories. “And you wonder why I drink.”

“I did not. I just told you to run till you pass out. You were just too stubborn to do so.” 

“I ran for three days straight then you beat me with training staff. You were a bully and still are.” I grumbled, stirring my drink more. 

“You milked it for all it was worth. ‘Costia, can I have some water?’ ‘Costia, please rub my aching limbs?’ Costia this, Costia that, Bahhh…It was over three decades ago, get over it already.”

“You never apologized once.” 

“And I never will. After that time in Brazil, you remember don’t you. I groaned knowing exactly what she was talking about. “When you blew up our escape plane and we had to run fifty clicks to the nearest LZ. You also learned how to block and dodge two lifelong skills.” 

“Wait,” Olivia said obviously not amused by our bickering. I supposed that was fair. “Costia, like mom Costia?”

I sighed knowing she wouldn’t like this. “Your mother was a part of our squad. Lincoln and Costia were our scouts, Luna and Anya were sort of like Sergeants, Nyko was our med tech, Gustus our heavy weapons specialist, and Indra led us, at least until I was fifteen.”

“You were all children, how could she use you like that?” Anya and I both looked at each other and shrugged.

“It was our way… everyone was young. You learned to grow up quickly.” I said.

“But, what went wrong… How did you both end up here?” Olivia asked, seemingly not phased by the events. Though I wasn’t sure, my daughter was much better at hiding how she was feeling than either Anya or I were, both of my children were. 

“Everything was great, we kept taking on missions, no one died, we were happy. Becca missions made less and less sense overtime, I think something happened to her. She spent more time in her labs and less among our people. She would ramble about this City of Light she wanted to create a perfect world. She always needed things, our targets became harder, secure military bases she always wanted software. She was making something, she never told me what it was.

“We grew too fast, became too powerful and other villages were taking notice. We lost many of our trading partners and gained different ones. While we had a strong leader they supported us, but when Becca started to show weakness, they saw an opportunity and they took it. They attacked us, and we had to defend ourselves. At least that is what Mo… Becca told us.”

“We killed hundreds. It wasn’t just taking out the occasional asshole or stealing information. We were just slaughtering people, I hated it. Before we were just protecting our home, then we were the aggressors, I hated it. We fought for two years then everything changed. Azgeda finally got an assassin to kill Pramheda, and I can’t honestly tell you I was upset. She destroyed our people, I may have killed her myself if…”

“Lexa,” Anya growled not pleased

“She was killing us for no good reason. We were dying for a dream that didn’t make any sense. She tortured me and my siblings for no good reason, The City of Light was bullshit. ” I took a deep breath and finished my drink. If I wasn’t so mad I would have been impressed how good it was. I needed to calm down. “She sold us off to the highest bidder over and over again. That serem didn’t save us Anya, we were all just an experiment.”

“What do you mean, experiment?” Anya scowled.

“I saw her notes,” I said, glaring back at her. “We were all a part of an experiment called the ‘Heda Project,’ whoever was sponsoring her must have believed she completed it and didn’t hand over her research. We are experimental super soldiers created for some unknown benefactor.”

“You lie,” She spat.

“No, I didn’t tell you because you wouldn’t believe me.” I attempted to relax. “She finished the experiment on me. I was supposed to be handed over in exchange for her freedom. The only reason she didn’t do that was because she was crazy.”

Anya did say anything, she just stood and walked out. On her way out the door she bumped her broken arm into the door jamb and cursed in pain. If anything that only made her more mad and she slammed the door causing the whole house to shake.

“By that point, I didn’t want to lead. I didn’t want anything to do with the war. The fighting had gotten so bad the American military stepped in and…” I couldn’t finish. It was too painful. I abandoned them. 

“So you ran, because you were scared. You left your people.” She was right but that wasn’t the only reason. 

“Yes, I did. I had to protect my family… my child.” I looked at Olivia hoping she would understand. “I wasn’t about to endanger your life, not for anything.” 

“Mom was pregnant.” Olivia didn’t look happy. “So who…”

“I don’t know. She took that secret with her.” I tried to hide my distaste for that. I would have very much liked to know that.

“How did she die then? If you got out, how did she die?”

“We don’t know.” I say. Trying to avoid my daughter's eyes.

“How don’t you know?” She was angry, rightfully so. 

“Costia was a free spirit. She never liked staying in one place. Even when we purchased this house she was only ever here for a month at a time, at most.” I paused, I could tell she was angry. “We were supposed to all choose safe jobs. Jobs that wouldn’t bring much attention, I figured someone would be looking, for me at least. Costia couldn’t do it. She kept getting bored until she got that journalist job. 

“She was always interested in everything. It is what made her a good scout. But she got a story, one she just wouldn’t let go so she started digging and it got her… Is she dead? I can only hope so.”

Olivia was fuming. “So you haven’t even looked?”

“Anya has… She was her best friend. I had you two to take care of she wouldn’t have wanted us to risk your lives to find her. She loved you both more than anything.” 

Clarke spoke up for the first time in a while. “That was a lot of information. But for now I am going to ignore it and unpackage it later, and if you have some of those files about her experiments I would be very interested. What are we going to do now?”

“What I was too scared to do all those years ago. I’m going to fight back. These machines came down and started killing people, they have a reason for it. They may even have some very good reasons. But whoever created these monstrosities are going to pay.” I paused, letting that sink in. “There are approximately seven-hundred and fifty other ships. Like mine out there, all of them picking up a lot of dangerous people. They are survivors, the kind of people who would do anything to breathe for one more second. I’m going to organize them, make them into a rag-tag fighting group ready to take on whatever this universe has to throw at us.”

“How do you expect to do that when you are absolutely terrible with anything made past the twenty-first century. You can’t even use your phone.” Olivia made a good point. I could barely use a computer. I preferred books, I didn’t even know I had a cellphone because I struggled to turn it on. I sighed seeing my delma.

“I haven’t thought it through that far yet. I assumed that someone who was picked up by these ships would know something about computers.”

“And you would trust them to not to kill you.”

“I am very hard to kill.” I stated, Clarke rolled her eyes. 

“I know someone who may fit that mold.” Clarke said, seemingly pleased with herself. “Raven, and you already know her, as long as you keep giving her something interesting to do. Plus she’s super loyal.”

I froze how could I be so stupid. The answer was right in front of me. Raven Reyes was brilliant. The Professor was always looking for something interesting to do. In fact, she was always lounging in my office complaining about how bored she was. 

‘Commander you are receiving a channel request from the ‘Her Majesty's Raven Reyes.’’ The Dutchman said. Speaking directly into my head, I may never get used to that. 

“Do you think Professor Reyes would have the chutzpah to name a ship the HMS Raven Reyes?” I asked out loud, though it was more to myself.

“Most certainly, if there is anything she loves more than food, it is herself.” Clarke said with certainty.

“Then I believe she is calling me.” I say not elaborating. 

‘Open the channel,’ Could I be this lucky.

‘Professor Reyes?’ I asked hoping that there was some small chance the name was not a coincidence. 

‘Hello, fellow torture survivor. I am the illustrious Raven Reyes, and you may call me ‘my ever lovely savior.’ You may be wondering…’ I was not about to listen to one more second of whatever Professor Reyes was about to say.

‘Professor Reyes,’ I said sternly, daring her to continue. It was a little difficult to portray emotions through the link. ‘This is Lexa Woods.’

Silence. For several seconds there was no sound coming from the other side of the channel. “Damnit Woods, I was about to grace some ignorant fool, with a wealth of knowledge so carefully extracted with my brilliance from this mobile prison. But you couldn’t let me have that. You had to step all over my thunder, and squash it like… like… an aunt underneath your stupid combat boots.” Raven huffed. I guess she was pouting like when her research grant budget didn’t cover explosion damage. 

‘I’m very sorry for…’ 

“No, no, no, no, no, NO. Let me finish. I am also upset that you would be snapped up in an alien spaceship and not call me. Haven’t I expressed my significant interest in everything alien. I even own a storm Area 51 t-shirt. I have never felt so offended Woods, that my own co-worker wouldn’t even have the decency to text, or send a letter considering it is you. This is the biggest thing to happen maybe ever and you didn’t even send a runner. I am so mad right now. Not only do you not inform me. You also interrupted my glorious speech, I was practicing that for five minutes of boring dumbass time. That's a long time in Reyes minutes.”

Professor Reyes created her own time scale, for what reason I have no idea. My interpretation of it has been that depending on the subject matter and the person she is speaking to the number of minutes she has wasted in her own personal time scale. I think my current rating is for every one minute of boring dumbass time, she wasted anywhere between five and fifteen minutes of ‘Reyes time’. From my understanding that is a pretty good rating. Many of Ravens followers, because calling them students would not cover their level of devotion, rate their overall worth based out of the amount of Reyes time they deem to use up. 

‘Are you done?’ I asked knowing I could be in for a rampage. Professor Reyes is known for going on long angry rants about just about anything. She shouted in my office for forty-five minutes because she thought someone was moving the furniture in her office a half inch to the left on Tuesdays then a half inch to the right on Thursdays. 

‘For now…’ She grumbles though it would sound like she didn’t want to be done. ‘Where are you? We should speak to each other in person to exchange information. I assume you have some.’ I told her my residence even though it was a secret I would have normally taken to my grave. She is persistent in her quest to set me up with any number of people. I didn’t need her to send them to my house. My office hours were plenty. 

‘I’ll be there in a few hours. Have you figured out how to leave these ships? Mine won’t let me, claiming that ‘Command Personnel must be protected from indigenious life forms’ to leave.’

How far away could she be that it would take several hours for her to reach me. Not that I understood exactly how fast these ships could go, or even the physics behind it. But, considering that they are spacecraft, they must be capable of traveling, possibly, hundreds of times faster than aircraft any human has ever invented. ‘I have, but where are you?’

“On the way back from the moon, I’ll explain when I get there. How did you get off your ship?”

The moon? What could she be doing up there? I choose not to ask her until she arrives. She was obviously extatic to share. ‘You have to take a set of injections. Your ship will inject nanobots into your body and reshape your whole being. It’s like there is a metal sheet underneath your skin, you become stronger, faster, you heal better. I would imagine that it would be very difficult to kill a person with these in your body.’ I explained leaving out the excruciating pain involved.

‘Dude… That is the coolest thing I have ever heard. I'm getting HMS to inject me now. I’m going to be a super… wait, what the fu… ahhhh.’ I signaled Dutchmen to cut the channel, before Raven could hear my mirth.

Over the past few minutes, I have come to realise that Clarke may be right. Having Raven Reyes as an ally may be the most critical aspect in maintaining my dreams. Professor Reyes may be arguably one of the brightest minds on the planet. Even though her specialty is mechanical engineering she has a tendency to get bored. You can officially say that Raven could have doctoral degrees in Physics, Computer Science, Biomechanics, Chemistry and countless other even minorly related fields. 

When it comes to blowing things up or putting things back together Professor Reyes was the go to. She was even contracted by the military to build better cybernetic limbs for soldiers. At the young age of twenty-eight Raven Reyes has accomplished more than dozens of other people have in their whole life. Maybe I should have informed her about the pain involved with taking the injections so far, instead of inevitably pissing her off. 

No I don’t feel bad. If Raven is going to be useful she can’t be trapped on her ship. She has to be able to have plenty of space to work. Our ships are most certainly not enough room. I chuckled one last time knowing I was going to be thoroughly chastised once Raven is conscious. 

“Was that Raven?” Clarke asked somehow having moved into my personal space without me releasing while I was conversing with her friend. 

“Yes, apparently she was also picked up by a ship. She is on her way. Though I must warn you she may be… irritable.” The blonde rolled her eyes.

“Irritable is literally her natural state of being. Does she know I’m here, did she ask about me?” Oh no, should I lie. Reyes didn’t mention Clarke at all. Or is this a test to see if I would tell her the truth about what the Professor said. It was relatively well known that when Reyes was interested in something new, nothing else was on her radar. She simply wouldn’t remember, especially about her own well being. Many of Raven’s teacher and graduate assistant’s complain that the majority of their job consists of attending to their wayward Professors basic functions. 

Clarke seemed to understand my dilemma and grinned, knowing her friend too well. She was pretty cute when she grinned mysteriously. “It’s okay, I am well aware of my sister’s habits. Is there something that she will be specifically pissy about though?”

“Well you know how I have that metal in my skin after I was given those injections?” She nods. “I may have only mentioned the benefits of those injections to Raven.”

Clarke laughed, full-bellied and pure. A tear slipped from her eye with how hard she laughed and when she laughed, I did as well. I haven’t been so affected by another's laughter in years, since Costia. After a minute our laughter began to subside. It felt good, it felt really good. Even after all that has happened in the past day, I’m glad I can still find some joy, even if that so happens to be at Raven Reyes expense. 

Clarke wiped a tear from her eyes. “I bet she thought she was going to be a superhero. She probably didn’t even think it through.” 

“Who were you talking to?” Anya asked, apparently having come back into the house and gone to make herself a sandwich.

I grabbed the sandwich out of her hand and gave half to Clarke. “Professor Raven Reyes, I think I've mentioned her a few times.”

Anya scowled and punched me, in one smooth motion, it hurt. I dropped the sandwich in shock as my head snapped to the side. the nanites made me over confident that a normal human being couldn’t hurt me. The side of my face stung and I could feel a bruise forming. When I recovered from my shock she had her sandwich back though her unbroken hand was not swollen. “Yeah the Nobel Prize winner, what was it in… Physiology & Medicine, for her leg, right.”

Clarke stood in shock at the whole display. “Is no one going to address what just happened?”

“No.” We both said at once glowering at each other.

“Okay then… Your hand is broken by the way I heard the crack.” Anya shrugged unconcerned and Clarke just sighed. “She also received it for Chemistry, and Physics. Though I think they gave her the last one because she likes making things blow up too much for the Peace prize to apply.” 

I really hoped Professor Reyes didn’t qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me an amazing idea. While I was typing I was like 'I kind of made Lexa sound like a failed Captain America. Wait... is there a fic out there where Lexa is Captain America. If there is I would like to read it. If there is not it should be a thing.' 
> 
> This is what I though about while editing this fic. So I am sorry about that. 
> 
> I also finished the outline for this part of the Star Force fic. Technically I finished the outline for the second part as well... but that doesn't count. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

Waiting for Professor Reyes was boring. Even after finishing off a bottle of my favorite bourbon, and gaining a slight buzz. Anya was pissed about me keeping what I learned about Pramheda a secret. But I didn't see a point in telling her, Anya loved Becca. Telling her that our leaders motives were not completely innocent wouldn't have changed anything. 

I realized that I haven’t seen Olivia in a while. After giving the house a once over, I realised she wasn’t inside. I go out onto the back porch overlooking the beach. It was dark by now, was it still the same day or was it the following? I didn't know. After a little searching I see her. 

I attempted not to be stealthy in my movements, as to not scare her, but I’m not sure I was capable of being stealthy even if I tried. 

“I’m not mad at you, you know? Maybe a little disappointed, but who isn’t disappointed when they find out the truth about their parents.” Olivia sighed. “Sort of takes out the mystery of the whole thing.”

I understood. “André Malraux once said ‘Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides’. I have much to hide. I have always been hiding. Hiding behind my fear, hiding behind my wife, hiding because I believe I am weak. I have done nothing but prove to myself that I can do anything, I couldn’t even take care of my children. In fact, I failed my own son in a way no parent should ever fail.”

I balled my hands so tightly that my knuckles began to turn white. “I won’t fail again not as long as I live.”

“Are you drunk?” Olivia asks, seeming to be concerned she was patting my face looking for signs of intoxication. "You always quote dead people when you're drunk."

I slapped her hands away. “NO… I’m not drunk. I was being serious.” I hold her hands in my own being careful not to crush them with my new found strength. “I will not fail you any longer, ai swega.”

“Mom, you haven’t failed us. Are you sometimes absolutely useless? Yes. Have you been disappointing at times? Yes. But you have always been there when it really mattered. Like when you used to beat up the bullies who called me stupid.” I didn’t know she knew about that. “And you didn’t fail Aden. You did the best you could. So stop grieving, we’re not smart enough to grieve. Aden’s the smart one, so wait till your fancy ship fixes him up so he can tell you when to grieve.”

“But… I…” I’m not sure my daughter has ever talked to me like this. “Did you just call me stupid?”

“OF COURSE SHE DID YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!!!!” I pushed Olivia as far away from me as I could. It probably hurt because of my superhuman strength but I didn’t care. Before I had the chance to react further I felt like a piano was dropped on my back. Two legs wrapped around my neck as I was thrown to the ground. I went face first into the damp sand. I heard water splash around me as I was buried.

Luckily I have kept up with my training and Anya is a ruthless opponent. “How do you like that Woods? Eating sand like it's your birthright.” Reyes had me in a choke hold. Her cybernetic leg wrapped firmly around my neck. I knew I couldn’t do anything about that. So I threw myself even further forward into the sand. Every second she had me this close to the water the more likely I am to drown. 

I lifted my legs straight up and wrapped my legs around the Professors torso, I was too short to reach her neck, and pulled with all my might. “Wow…” Reyes whooped as she lost her center of balance, as of being pulled backwards. I reached into my coat and pulled out one of my knives then decided against it. I didn’t want either of our ships interfering. 

I grabbed her real leg and pulled in the other direction. As my head was finally brought out from its sandy prison I realised Professor Reyes still had me with her cybernetic leg. I gripped her other leg harder. “Oww,”

“Release me,” I grunted. Feeling the signs of oxygen deprivation. I pulled my core tighter as I slid my legs up to her armpits now that I have a better angle. 

“Not a chance Professor Douchebag, Those shots hurt like a bitch. You’re into some freaky tentacle porn shit Woods and I will have no part of your dirty fantasies.” Negotiations have failed. I put my right arm beneath me and leaned it to the leg choking me. I pushed off the unstable sand and flipped our positions. Reyes was now trapped under me with her cybernetic leg around my neck and her face in the sand. I was sitting in the middle of her back. I felt black spots in my vision increasing and knew I only had a few seconds until I passed out.

I pushed her head further into the sand and grunted again. “Release me,”

Finally as consciousness began to fade, I felt the stranglehold loosen. Immediately I rolled off of Reyes and started gasping for air. 

“RAVEN… What the fuck do you think your doing?” 

“Clarke?” the Professor questioned pulling herself from the sand. “Is that really you?”

“Yes,” As I pushed myself up I saw that Clarke was whiping sand from her friend's face. “I’m okay. Were you worried?”

Reyes held Clarkes face and just looked at her. Tears popped up in the corners of her eyes. “I thought I lost you…” She looked seriously distressed. “I heard a crash and then you weren’t in your room and your gun was gone. At first I thought Finn broke in again. But then I saw your window was broken. When I looked out the window I saw that ship.”

“Ra…” Clarke started but she didn’t let her finish.

“Clarke, I chased it jumping from roof to roof but I couldn’t catch it. It flew over the ocean and I just sat there and watched. I don’t remember how long I was there but the next thing I knew I was being picked up by one of those arms.” Tears were running down her face now. “I killed them Clarke. That fucking ship had so many people in it and I just killed them. I was just so mad. I kept thinking this is what happened to you and I couldn’t stop killing them. They just kept coming.”

Clarke looked like she was about to say something but Raven shushed her. “No let me tell you so I don’t ever have to think about it again. I figured it out though, and they finally stopped coming. But I tried to find you but you weren’t anywhere I kept calling different fucking ships but none of them were you. I thought you were dead. I couldn’t have gone home knowing I would have to look in Mom’s eyes and tell her I couldn’t protect you.”

I felt like I was intruding on a private moment so I tried to get up as slowly and quietly as I could. “I don’t think so, you sadist. I’m not done with our conversation yet. Sit your ass down while I have a reunion with my baby sister.” I’m not sure how any of that was a conversation but I sat down, seeing I was going to get away that easy.

I pull out one of my flasks but it gets ripped from my grasp. “What the fuck?” When I looked to see where it went I found it in Olivia’s hand. She gave it a sniff and then took a sip. “You’re too young to drink.

“And you're too old to be pushing teenagers a hundred meters down the beach. So we're both full of surprises.” I guess that was fair. She sat down beside me continuing to sip my drink. “Seriously that hurt, you should be more careful. No wonder Aunty Anya snapped like a twig.”

“I am not a twig.” Anya snapped, snatching the flask out of her hand and taking a swig. “You should respect your elders, little shit, or next thing you know… Bamm.” She clapped my daughter's shoulder. “You’ll be running fifty kilometers out of fear.”

I shudder knowing exactly what she meant.

“Raven I promise you, I’m fine. Nothing happened.” Clarke said, trying to calm Reyes down.

“That's not possible. You either die or become ‘Command Personnel’ that's how it works. So which one is it Griffin? Because I don’t think your nanitzied, otherwise you would have been able to fight me off.” Raven was growling at Clarke. She had her in a headlock that looked nothing less than painful. “Tell me what happened. Or I will noogie you with reinforced steel.”

“Please stop Raven. Nothing happened okay. Lexa saved me. Everything is fine.” Reyes leveled a gaze at me. 

“What’d you do to my little sis, Woods?” She was moving towards me, like a predator who just found her next meal. “Did you kill her? Did you shoot her in the face? Did you choke her to death? Huh Lexa…” 

“Of course I didn’t.” The Professor looked wild, her pupils were blown, her smile didn’t reach her eyes, she looked as though she wanted to destroy me in a second. Before I could say anymore Clarke stepped in. 

“Leave her alone Rae.” Clarke pushed her out of the way. Her bright blue eyes were shining as they looked into mine, a blush permeating her features. “I am so sorry about her, she is overprotective. It’s been like this since we were kids. Please forgive her.”

“Nothing to forgive.” I say, trying not to show how fearful I was of Ravens glare. I am certain that if I would ever do anything to endanger Clarke, I would face an excruciatingly painful death.

“I think your Mom almost pissed her pants.” I could hear Olivia humming in ascent. 

“She looks funny when she's scared. Her eyes pop out of her head.” I was scowling. Was my sixteen year-old drunk. I am a terrible parent. I need to resolve this situation now you are Heda act like it. 

I stood getting my bearings again. I need to focus on the mission and so did they. “Professor Reyes?” My tone must have spoken volumes in my shift in mood. Everyone around me got serious. 

“I have some questions. Would you be willing to answer them?” The Professor stood looking into my eyes. I'm lucky we are about the same height or I’m not sure I would be able to intimidate.

“Only if you call me Raven. I have a few questions myself. Starting with what the fuck are you wearing?” I level my gaze at her, detached and unfeeling. Reyes took a step back. “Damn you ask all the questions.”

I nod. Glad she understands the situation. “What were you doing on the moon?” I realized how little I’ve slept. I must be in a pissy mood. 

“I w… was doing r…. reconnaissance.” She stuttered out. I may have over done it but it was too late now. She pulled a sheet of what looked like paper out of one of her pockets and started unfolding it. “Besides calling various other ships I spent time learning about how the ship worked.

“I considered what was most relevant in an interstellar spaceship. My first thought was ‘how does it do repairs?‘ If it travels hundreds of thousands of lightyears how does it fix things that go wrong?”

“How do you know things go wrong?”

“Call it a mechanics intuition. But what I found was probably the most valuable thing in this star system.” She pulled up a picture on a piece of paper and put it in my view. It was strange looking, like a chimney with an opening at the top and one that was parallel with the floor on the bottom. There was nothing discerning its use though. I thought for a few minutes but came up with nothing. 

“I give what is it?”

“Really… no guesses?” I glared, not amused. I was not playing games. “Fine kill my buzz. It’s a factory. But it can create anything. It created this nanite paper. I have had it create a lot of cool stuff. You just need to supply it with materials. It doesn't matter what form they take as long as the raw elements are there it will create anything. Even more of itself.”

“Do all the ships have these?”

“I would assume so. Whatever created these monstrosities were not very creative. They are very literal minded, my ship looks entirely different now much more suitable for me to work in. But now that I can leave HMS I have a new idea.” She flipped to a different screen. This one showed a blueprint of something. 

“What is this?” I asked, confused.

“This is a base. After I learned that there were more than just a few dozen odd ships around. I started making plans to get as many ships together as possible. Right now ten morons are following me, I have them picking up supplies for my factory. I didn’t share with them why they were gathering supplies because I don’t trust them.”

“And what did you plan to do with your factory?” I asked choosing not to ask where she is getting these supplies plausible deniability and all.

“Build more of course.” Reyes said smugly. “If we are going to defeat this unknown enemy we need every advantage. Having a solid production base is key to any long term strategy.”

I agreed with her. "But we have these ships isn't that enough."

"Lexa," she sighed like she didn't even know why she was trying to explain anything to me. "These ships are stupid, there not intelligent not like you and I are. They are machines and don't think. They are simply following programming given to them probably a million-billion years ago. What do you think they will do when they are done with us?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. I hadn't really thought about it. 

"Exactly. I don't either. But judging by the fucking goats we are not going to like it. They will take us and all this technology fuck knows where and are species will be left with nothing. So I am going to build more factories."

"Where are you going to put them?" Raven smirked then apparently this was what she had been waiting to talk about.

“On the moon,” I frowned at her. 

“You want to put a secret base on the moon?” I asked skeptically

“Yeah it will be awesome.”

“And very far away.”

“Exactly… but we need to talk,” She gestured between the two of us. “What this is… I have no desire to lead. I want to do my work without too much interruption. I need to understand how these machines work. It is driving me crazy that we are so behind technologically that I don’t even understand the mechanics behind the mechanics. I don’t even understand the theory behind the theory.”

“How do you know I wasn’t about to say the same thing to you?” I asked bemused, though skeptically.

Raven shifted back and forth, nervously. “Promise not to get mad.”

“No…” I admitted honestly, I would never promise not to get mad it would be a lie. “But I promise not to hold it against you, probably.”

Raven nodded, acceptingly. “I work for the CIA, or rather I contract with them… It doesn’t really matter… the point is I was apprised of a lot of secretive and most certainly illegal experiments done around the world and their inevitable results. Long story short, I know who you are Lexa Kom Trikru.”

I heard myself take a breath in shock. We took painstaking measures to keep our identities a secret. “How?”

“I took a sample of your blood when you weren’t paying attention.” I glared at her, though I wasn’t surprised. When did she have the opportunity to take…

“That friend of yours…” What was her name? “O, something, she tried to drug me, or seduce me, or something. She was terrible, or a minimum desperate, I pricked myself trying to get away from her.”

“Yeah I’m really sorry about that. She was supposed to distract you.” Raven sighed, shaking her head in regret.

“She did indeed succeed,” I shuttered. “What did you do when you found out?”

“Nothing…” Raven shrugged. “Becca’s experiments were cruel and funded by the U.S. government. They would have put you in a cell and tested you, and learned nothing. I figured it would be easier just to not say anything and help cover up your trail.”

“And you would have rather done your own testing.” Raven just shrugged. 

“It’s not like you noticed.” I couldn’t deny that I supposed. 

“Hey, you can’t just take people’s blood without permission.” At some point Anya must have come outside. Raven gave the approaching blonde an unamused up and down.

“Who’s the gimp?” She asked, glaring. 

“Say’s the five million dollar man.” Anya snaps, closing the distance and getting in Raven’s face. “Who gave you the right to…”

Raven tossed her, I had no other words to describe it. She grabbed the front of Anya's shirt and threw her sideways like she weighed no more than a doll. My jaw loosened in shock as I watched my first get thrown into the surf.

"Raven," Clarke chastised hands on her hips glaring at the brunette.

"What Clarke? She called me the five million dollar man." Raven turned towards where Anya was trying to recover in the waves and shouted. "It's six million dollar man, Gimpy."

I sighed, as I listened to Anya and Raven bicker. Three seconds after meeting each other and they are already at each other's throats. I walked back into the house avoiding everyone, this was just too much for one day. Rum induced slumber here I come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos, and the comments, and just everything. It has really been making my month.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry for the late delivery.
> 
> I have two reasons for it:
> 
> One- I didn't feel like editing the chapter till yesterday.
> 
> Two- Roller-coaster Tycoon one and two went on sale on Steam for under ten bucks and next thing I knew it went from me saying, on Friday, 'just one level then I'm done' checks back in on the time its six o'clock on Sunday. Yes I did indeed stay up all night two nights in a row without realizing it. 
> 
> Anyway... enough about my insomnia and enjoy the chapter!

How long has it been since I slept? Twenty-four… No… thirty-six hours. I last slept Saturday night, and it is now Sunday morning according to the clock on the forward wall. I doubted I would be getting any sleep in the next twenty-four hours either. Luckily I had Raven install a coffee machine along with everything else. 

My bridge was now a Command center of sorts. It was wonderful. Six screens depicted various views of my ship travelling through Earth's upper atmosphere. None of them were really screens, just a series of programmed nanites to act like a tv so they were embedded into the wall. They adjusted to my movements so that they were always in perfect focus for me to see them. If I moved too quickly I could just barely register the screens losing a bit of focus to keep up with me. 

The first screens on my right were of the gun emplacement. The Professor, and newly minted Admiral, said that in space combat it would be entirely useless, but I liked the idea of being able to see where my guns were shooting and when in atmosphere it was useful to see cities. Not that I had any plans to bomb cities. But it was nice to be able to see where you were at. Raven didn’t understand the sentiment being a vampire.

The second and third screen on the right gave a forward and backwards perspective. I enjoyed being able to see where I was going even if I was deluding myself on its usefulness.

The last three screens were most important, two of them were skipping between news channels from every station in the world. People were scared, they didn’t know what was happening, and neither did their government. That was mostly my fault, I haven’t contacted any governments yet and in fact have been avoiding the necessary task. I put a strict ban on anyone disclosing information to the governments of earth.

I didn't need everyone trying to convince me that these ships needed to be under the control of the rightful authorities. The only person I deemed rightful was anyone these ships chose to be their commanders. Being one these ships changed a person, you literally hovered over humanity holding unimaginable power. More power than any individual person in the history of the world has ever had. And that was just one ship.

The third screen was flipping through many political leaders, that aren’t total assholes, because there are many, that would be a good person to contact among the major governments of earth. All of them were decent enough people with many connections, and all I needed to choose was one to make a phone call. 

I just had to dial the phone screen on my command chair and it would ring. I already knew the senator in the United States I was going to call. In fact Clarke gave me his personal phone number. Marcus Kane… Apparently he was Clarke's stepfather or something. She even said she would call for me, but I figured that was a chicken shit thing to do. 

So here I am sitting in my Command chair being glared at by Olivia who was sitting in her chair supposedly talking to the hundred other ships that were flying around that were now in my organization, Star Force. 

Maybe it was the lack of sleep finally getting to me. I really needed to just call Marcus Kane and maybe I can take a nap. Maybe I can check on Aden another time. I haven’t asked the ship about him for a number of hours because I was afraid of the answer and as long as I put it off I could still hang onto hope. 

I wonder how Olivia was taking it. She was never one to show her emotions. So I probably would never know how she felt unless she wanted me too.

There were forty ships now that made up Star Force. Half of them must think I’m crazy for telling them my title is Heda. But that's what I’m used to being called and I wasn’t about to change it for their sake. I made Raven an admiral, because she would have killed me otherwise. I’m the leader of a bunch of space pirates, I can make some stuff up. Pirates are exactly what the media have been calling us, the forty odd ships that were currently taking orders from me were not that terrible with stealing. But the other hundred loose cannons have been pillaging like crazy. 

That's one of the reasons I need to call Senator Kane. We need a land base to get supplies. Stealing should not be our main sources of gathering supplies. It puts too many civilians at risk. Especially if a few of them get trigger happy.

Clarke and Raven had already gone to start on their secret moon base. Clarke is listed on my personal staff chart as Raven’s bitch, which Anya updates as new people agree to join the organization and share information. Of course we kept the most pertinent information to ourselves like the factories. 

Is it a bad precedent to start an organization that has a secret chain of command that reports directly to me, possibly. Most of my ships knew I had others on board my vessel such as Olivia. But I doubted most of them knew about Clarke and Anya, and anyone outside of Star Force definitely didn’t know about them. But I can’t see another way to do this, at least for now. 

Any military organization is challenged for its viability, its will to exist. Every nation in the world is seeing these ships coming down and snatching people. If I was them I would be attempting to get as many of my assets in these ships as possible. That is not what I see being best for this planet. These ships cannot be run by any one nation, it would only result in war, these ships can and should be run by an independent organization. Who better to do that than a little known warlord, at least that is what I am sure the government agencies of the world will call me.

Keeping what few key assets we have close to the chest for the time being is logical. Especially keeping the factories out of sight of the world governments, will ensure Star Force’s survival if only out of the nation's need for the things only our factories will be able to produce. And the only way for me to do that is to make a phone call to Senator Kane. 

I sat there for another ten minutes trying to hype myself up for a diplomatic greeting/negotiation, but I didn’t get the chance to make the call. 

Tiny black arms whipped around my body securing me to my command chair. Then I felt my ship accelerate, pushing me towards what was once the ceiling. We had been in zero gravity for the past few hours. It was a strange feeling to acclimate too, but a definite necessity. The ship didn't exactly have one right way it had to accelerate from. It essentially could provide thrust at any conceivable angle except for directly forwards. 

Blood began rushing towards my brain and I'm sure I would have passed out or died without either my nanites or the restraints. 

“Dutchmen…” I grunted, the force of acceleration was almost too much for me to speak. “Orientate the ship's direction so that what we once treated as the floor is always the floor while accelerating.”

“Preferences set,” Immediately the ship orientated itself, according to my instructions. I’m glad Raven insisted on me ordering the ship to secure everything and everyone in its spot before accelerating. 

Now that we were accelerating in the ‘right’ direction, I threw a glance at Olivia just to make sure she's still alive. I could see her chest rising and falling so at least she was breathing, if faintly due to the intense g-forces. 

I turned my attention to the forward screen. This was my idea. There were little bumps covering the forward wall that depicted the outside world. Gray circles, depicted physical objects like the Earth, Moon and Sun, blue dots were the other nano ships, while green was mine, specifically. Orange was for unknowns, and red was for enemies. The shape we were heading towards was red and it was huge. This ship was twenty times the size of a single one of our ships.

“Dutchmen… Open the general channel.” I immediately was overwhelmed by the number of voices that were on the channel. People were yelling that their ships were not responding to their commands to turn around. Some people were simply panicking. There was no way I was going to get any helpful information from listening to that. Not that I could have gotten a word in edgewise anyway. “Dutchmen… Close Channel. Open channel to HMS.”

Raven answered right away. “What the hell is that Heda?” 

“The enemy, could you put the rest of Star Force on this line?” I told Dutchmen to keep the channel open but mute my end. 

“Dutchmen… How long do we have until we are in range?”

“Excessive responses generated, answer unclear.” I rolled my eyes, not happy to be playing this game again.

“What about the question is unclear?”

“The relative velocities of both the enemy forces and our ships.” Oh… I think I understood.

“Assuming velocities remain consistent with currently available information, when will we be in range?”

“One hundred and seventy- eight minutes.” 

Ok, so we have time. I keep forgetting the extreme distances involved in space combat. Raven tried to explain it to me but the vastness that was space is so staggering it is hard to wrap one's brain around it. I need visuals or just to do it. Now I am getting my wish. “Dutchmen when you are asked for an estimate, assume that I am asking based on current known velocities.”

“Preferences set.”

“Heda we’re ready.” Raven said pulling me from my ire at my overly literal ship. 

I gesture for Dutchmen to unmute the channel “Ok, people let's cluster up. I want all our guns to hit them at once. That thing is too big to peck at it with what I am assuming is our ridiculously small armament.”

“But our ships won't listen to us.”

“They won’t let you retreat,” Raven spoke up. “But they’ll let you change course, for better tactical advantage.”

It’s a good thing she was around to pick up the slack. I never even considered retreating. But it made sense. These ships picked us up for a reason, and this was it, they were not about to allow their ‘Command Personnel’ to flee when their enemy makes an appearance. “Exactly, I’m going on the general chat now to get more people to cluster up. Admiral Reyes will direct you further while I address everyone else. Heda, out.”

They were good enough people and I could already see the forty ships clustering around my ship, if a bit slowly. Not everyone had Raven breathing down their neck to properly program their ships. I took a deep breath and opened the general channel. People were still screaming about useless crap, but I needed to get their attention. “BE SILENT.” I commanded and after a few seconds the channel was quiet. Something about being able to silence a group of people at my voice alone was a huge boon to my confidence. 

“Listen up, this is Heda. Today is what we have all been selected for through those murderous trials. We will be destroying that enemy ship, whether we like it or not. I plan on living through this particular event, if you are with me you will follow my next commands.” I did not wait for a response. For the next several minutes, I talked them through getting their ships to display the colored pebbled screen that all the ships in my fleet were equipped with. No one seemed displeased at the free information, and hastily complied even adding a few improvements which I immediately implemented. 

“Next, order your ships to crowd around the Dutchmen we will be in range…” I checked my watch to see how much time elapsed. I should really get Dutchmen to display time till we are in effective range on the front wall. “One hundred and forty minutes, I do not know our enemies effective range, but I would assume they will start shooting at us well before we are in rangel, if only due to the size of the enemy ship. If anyone has any information regarding our enemy contact the Dutchmen, the HMS Raven Reyes, or any others you know in Star Force. Heda, out.”

What looked like a hundred more ships started moving in my direction, calls from what felt like every ship poured in I looked over at Olivia and saw that she was still passed out. I was distinctly disappointed because I could have made her answer some of my calls. She is one good communications officer, if she wasn’t sixteen I would consider it but she was raised how me and Anya were. There was no point in forcing her on to that path, despite the coming danger. For the next half-hour I answered what felt like one million useless questions about unnessentail information. ‘Can I join Star Force? What is my pay?’ What a waste of time. I was on a call with a particularly annoying man when something on my screen changed.

“Heda… are you sure this is the best strategy? We do not know if these ships are truly our enemy.” He paused for a moment as I considered the possibility. He could be right, the nano ships were the ones plucking us from our planet and putting us through those murderous tests. There are the ones who are killing thousands, if not millions. As far as we know these new aliens are here to save us from these ships, or at the very least give us information on how to stop them from killing indiscriminately. 

No… I thought to myself. It didn’t matter who was in the right and who was in the wrong. Our planet has been placed on one side of a war we wanted no part in and until we were strong enough to defend ourselves we didn’t have a choice but to fight against these new invaders. I now began to understand how Yugoslavia felt during World War II, being more or less forced to ally themselves with German, despite wishing for neutrality. 

“It doesn’t matter right now who is in that ship. What matters is that our ships are going to be attacking there’s less than two hours whether we like it or not. What we have to do is make sure we are the winning side, it's not a matter of morality, it's a matter of survival for our species. I would choose us over whoever is in those ships any day.”

Before I could cut the channel, a little red dot seemed to spring from the large ship. “They’re firing something, Heda.”

“What do you think that is, Jaha?” I asked the man wanting to confirm my suspicions.

“My guess is missiles, or something comparable. That is the only logical thing that could be fired at this range. Any sort of non-smart weaponry could be avoided at this range. Missiles would be able to change paths to chase us if we tried to evade.” 

“I agree, join the Star Force chat, your knowledge has been very useful, Heda out.” Though part of that was a lie because he was distinctly irritating. He was wise and seemed to have a better understanding of the current affairs, even if his timing could use some work. “Dutchmen, display an estimated time of impact for the enemy projectile on the forward screen.”

This was one of the updated settings that, by chance, Jaha suggested. A red number counted down till the first missile impacted our formation. Two minutes, it's moving fast. I heard a hatchway open from behind me. 

“What the fuck is going on?” I turned and looked at my first. At some point my body must have gotten used to the g-forces because I haven’t noticed them for some time. Anya on the other hand was looking rather rough. Her face was red from the strain of walking from the rear of the ship, sweat was dripping off of her as she panted in exhaustion. The fact that she was still able to move at all was a testament to either how pissed off she was to be awakened from her nap or just her persistence. I'm leaning towards the former.

“Dutchmen, put Anya in her command chair.” The arms were not gentle as they dragged her into the chair. I honestly forgot that Anya was on the ship. After we left our house for what may possibly be the last time. I had Dutchmen heal her broken arm, which was essentially her screaming as the nanites put the pieces of her shattered limb back together, atom by atom. The nanites didn’t seem to have any mind for pain management, real shocker, I just hoped I never needed their assistance. 

Then she helped me organize the command structure for my new organization. She even worked with a few of her more trustworthy contacts throughout the world that she has kept in contact with over the years to get supplies to Raven. Anya didn’t have an official rank in the organization, but unofficially she was my executive officer. “An enemy ship appeared and we are currently about to engage in an attack run.”

“Hmmm…” Anya hummed, seeming more comfortable now that the g-forces were spread more evenly, taking in the displacement of our forces on the forward wall. “What are those red dots coming at us?”

“Best guess is missles,” The first missile made contact with one of my outlying ships. It looked to be someone who didn’t comply with my clustering order, or was simply too slow to make a decision regarding their survival. The other missiles were also aimed at outlying ships, they seemed to be moving towards the main group but were moving too slowly to do any good. “ I would take that as missile confirmation. I’m going to tune into the Star Force chat and see if we lost anyone.”. 

“Anyone know who that was?” I asked once the channel was open.

“Not, one of us.” Raven said. “One of the nubes, they didn’t know how to work their ship properly.”

I sighed, but knew there was nothing to be done. “Everyone, order your ships to cluster around the nearest vessel being targeted to you. No less than ten ships in a group I don’t want those missiles hitting a friendly.” Immediately more than a dozen groups of ten to twenty emerged I realised as my groups became settled I realised I was all alone. 

“We have just been targeted, Branwada.” Anya grunted displeased.

“Shit, Dutchman accelerated, towards HMS as fast as you can.” It was a close thing, luckily Raven must have realised what was going on and move her group towards me. A private channel request from Raven appeared, I opened it reluctantly.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed? You know how pissed Clarke would be if you had gotten yourself blown up because you weren’t paying attention. Slave your ship to mine, before you die of explosive decompression.” She cut the channel before I had a chance to say anything else. 

“What does ‘slaving’, mean?” I asked, no one in particular. 

“It’s like Star Wars…” A groggy voice said. Olivia rubbed her eyes and shifted underneath the strain of the nanite arms. “Dutchmen, do as the HMS Raven Reyes, Open a Channel and follow her orders, until this battle is over.”

“Command accepted.” The Dutchmen said as it fell into pace beside what I assumed to be Raven’s ship. 

“Who is that rushing ahead of us?” By this point almost every ship that was not part of a group had either been shot down or moved into formation. 

“It's the Decadent, that ship hasn’t been active much. They are moving at a significantly faster velocity than the rest of the fleet. If they were attempting to flee wouldn’t they attempt to hang back. I just think they're an idiot who is incapable of following simple directions. The thirty or so ships that were hanging behind the group were cowards.” I kept my agreement to myself at Olivia’s blunt assessment, as more missiles have been shot from the large ship while we have been chatting ruffly ten of them are now pursuing various ships spaced exactly thirty seconds apart. 

“Dutchman, open a channel with the Decadent.” The channel was opened immediately 

“Hello, who is this?” A voice called through the speaker. 

“In about twenty seconds you are going to be killed by an enemy missile. Order your ship to converge with the Dutchmen so we can take it down before it reaches you. In fact, order your ship to follow the Dutchmen, we don’t have time to direct you in how to properly control your ship. Any questions?” 

It was quiet for several seconds. “I expect a response Decadent.”

“Ohh… Umm… sorry, ma’am.” I rolled my eyes. This kid was a real idiot. How he survived the ship's test I have no clue. I bet he hasn’t even turned off the ship's function that stops it from picking people up. I’ll have to have Ra… no, Clarke. I know for a fact Raven does not like speaking to idiots. “I will… Umm… Do my best.”

“Good, Heda out.” I turned back to Star Force chat.

“Reyes?”

“I got it” Our group started moving closer towards him.

“Heda what about the ships being targeted that are not in our formation?” I answered immediately 

“If they didn’t want to participate in the defense of the planet, then we shouldn’t feel the need to defend them in return.” It was cold, but I didn’t care, we are at war. 

“Understood,” Raven said, not sounding pleased. Too bad I thought we had a battle to win. 

The next hour was stressful, the enemy ship just kept firing missiles. We lost ten ships, not a single one was a member of Star Force. When we finally got into range of the massive ship we destroyed it utterly. Over a hundred ships swarmed the vessel, firing over two hundred guns from every side. It never stood a chance. During the last seconds the ship seemed to have turned to try and escape but we didn’t let it. 

“Great job everyone, That was a rousing success. Celebrate and try not to terrorise the planet. Heda, out.” Maybe that was a dangerous thing to say but a Commander must know when to let their troops be… well troops. I can deal with the political backlash later. 

“Was it wise to give such an open ended blessing to celebrate this victory?” Anya stated less than pleased. 

“No… but it will weed out the useless people from those who have merit. Anyone who abuses their power will go on my personal shit list.” 

“That is brilliant and also incredible stupid.” Anya said, her expression not changing since she got on the bridge. 

“They just watched me ignore twenty odd ships that were subsequently blown up by enemy missiles. They heard their screams and they watched as I did nothing, as Raven did nothing and every other person over the past couple of days that has brought some form of stability into this chaotic new universe we face. None of them want to be on any of our shit lists.” I said I’ve already been thinking about what I would do if someone seriously pissed me off, and jeopardized our mission. I would guess their mistake would be fatal. 

“You make a good point.” Anya nodded, a small smile spread across her face. She was probably thinking about the same thing as me. 

“I think I’m going to go lay down. Is it safe to move yet?” Olivia moaned like she has had the worst headache of her life. 

I checked to see what the Dutchman was doing. It seemed the fleet was going to be on a roundabout course back to earth “Dutchman, how long until we are back in the earth's atmosphere?”

“Seven hours.” 

“Son of a Bitch,” Olivia cursed. Attempting to get more comfortable. “Why?”

“Because we have to slow down, turn around then fly back and assuming you would like to be comfortable rather than smashed to the back of your chair…” Oliva groaned. 

“Have you at least checked on Aden? I bet the ship has healed him by now.”

“Your right.” It has to have healed him by now. It has been over a day, almost two days. He must be freaking out in there especially after seeing the dangling snake arms. “Dutchmen, How is Aden doing?”

“The biotic known as Aden, did not respond to the injection treatment.” 

“What?”

“The biotic known as Aden, did not respond to the injectio…” 

“I know what you said.” I snapped but the ship didn’t respond. It never did respond unless directly asked something. The hope monkey had gotten me. I believed that my son was alive, even if it was only in my own mind. Then all of that hope was ripped away in a blink of an eye by a simple sentence. I hoped I just misheard I had to have misheard, right? “What does that mean?”

“The biotic known as…”

“I fucking heard you.” I tried to calm myself but it wasn’t working. 

“Wh… Where is he?” I could already feel the deep waves of depression rush over me again like a curtain that's been around for years that no one has dared open but for the last day. I pulled a flask out of one of my coats and began to take deep sips. How quickly do waves of despair overcome a person? In a matter of seconds I went from being jubilant at our victory over an enemy ship to wishing I would have been blown up by that fucking missle to avoid this experience. 

“The biotic waste was disposed of once the injections failed to revive the subject.” Why do I even bother. Nothing matters anymore. 

“Dutchmen you murderous cunt, pass me a glass with ice.” She killed my son. Then tricked me into believing there was hope for his survival. The least she could do was bring me some mother fucking ice to drown my misery in. I barely heard the sound of my ship destroying my perfectly good fridge, which was quickly followed by the sound of breaking glass as the sloppy little arms destroyed a very nice set of whiskey sniffers. 

After another minute a glass that only had a small crack in it with several cubes of ice appeared. I dumped what was left of my flask into the glass. I don’t know what happened over the next several hours, but when it was over, I was out of booze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really holding out hope that he would live. I was but apparently now matter how many times I wrote this chapter he died. I wonder what that says about me... Anyway... next chapter will be on Wednesday since I was late with this one.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for the comments, kudos, bookmarks, everything. Your support is amazing.
> 
> As promised, here is another chapter, enjoy

Walking into Raven’s ‘special' room was the worst. My best friend had the worst habits. For one she was filthy, crumbs, discarded snack packs and half drunk bottles of beer were scattered across the sticky floor.

Secondly, she turned the whole room into a hot box. A mixture of maijuana and tobacco smoke filled the air in the tiny closet sized space. The ceiling was too low so it made the already cramped room feel even more so. She claimed that the fog opened her mind to new possibilities. I was pretty certain she disengaged the ship's auto disposal functions, just to make the room this thoroughly disgusting. But if that is what she needs to do to focus, who am I to deny the world her ‘genius’, plus she wouldn’t listen anyway. Not that it has ever stopped me from trying.

Raven was curled up in the farthest corner of the cramped room that housed the chimney like machine. She could be found little else these days, that machine has become the center of Ravens every fascination. Her hair was pulled into the messiest bun one could ever find. More hair was out of it then in. Her eyes were bloodshot either from lack of sleep or from the joint sticking out from between her lips, probably a mixture of both. If anyone were to walk by you would think she was a college student attempting to finish several days worth of work an hour before it is due. 

Currently Raven had her newest version of a work pad connected to the machine through nanite wires. Over the past few days she had been making rapid and frequent adjustments to HMS and the factory unit within. She said it was like working with a completely blank system, no formatting, no preferences. You had to give it parameters for what you expected each time you asked a question, because it had no frame of reference to go off of until you did. Like if you wanted to know how long it would take you to get from the earth to mars. It would say ‘excessive responses generated. Variables not specified. Query ignored.’ Raven made a script that let the HMS assume that when she asked for estimates in general or laid in a course, current navigation and sensory data remained constant.

She put in most work though into this room, into the nano factories. She first became interested in what the machine could do, which was pretty much anything and everything given sufficient supplies and a description of your need. But she referred to the thing as not being user friendly, I just assumed she meant Raven friendly. I quite enjoyed talking to the factories, I told them what I wanted, and they would put a picture of the design they came up with on my tablet. Granted it took a bit to get to a level where it understood ‘scary’ meant creepy ass hanging tentacle arms. But we had come a long way. 

Because Raven didn’t like feeling like she was being left out of the design process she ‘upgraded’ it, she essentially gave it a bigger brain box. A brain box is a collection of nanites that make up its neural chains. Instead of being one to three pounds fat, cells, nerve fibers, and blood, they are nanites that form complex chains to store and learn new information. 

The original brain box for the nano factory was rather small in comparison to the box that the ship uses. Raven said it was because the ship has control over many different functions while the factory only has to create things from pre-programed instructions or at the most past experience. It can’t create new neural nets without input from the user. Raven doubled the size of the box and made it capable of integrating with whatever design software she was into this month.

Currently Raven had removed her artificial leg and was pushing it into a just big enough input shoot in the factory's side. We were in Zero-G over the South Pole on Patrol duty. We probably would have been in Zero-G regardless, Raven always wanted to be an astronaut. And despite my heavy dislike for the sensation, she could get enough. 

Her tablet had floated within my reach and I grabbed it. There was a design for a new mechanical leg. Unlike the leg she had previously created, this one seemed to be made entirely of nanites; it would link with the nanites that were in her body and make it so that she would have improved sensory information to her brain. It seemed to work on a similar premise to how she could communicate with other nanitzed people as well as her ship. I skimmed her tablet for a few more minutes than ran a few calculations. "What are you doing?”

I must have startled her because the joint she had been nursing popped out of her mouth. As her eyes widen in shock at my perceived sudden appearance. I should be proud that I snuck up on her. Raven’s brain was literally wired into the ship, she could have known where I was with an absent thought. She caught the joint before it could float too far away from her. She ended up flying away from the machine because she underestimated her strength and threw herself into a spin.

It still amazes me how quickly both Raven and Lexa could move when they wanted to, well more like when they didn't want to. Raven has slowly been getting control over her new found strength and speed. At least she stopped crushing my bones when she touched me. It took time and patience for her to move without crashing into walls or simply breaking skin doing some of her normal gestures.

"Upgrades" she mumbled after recovering and finding a hand grip, throat ruff from lack of use. I rolled my eyes Raven was always doing 'upgrades'. Every single second of the day she was upgrading something. I hated when she said upgrades, it literally meant anything. It's the Raven version of ‘stuff’. I chose not to comment because it seemed that she was in a bad mood and I didn’t feel like pumping her for information.

"Shouldn't you be building more nano factories, speaking of that…" I tipped her tablet back to her and she caught it. "Why are you overstating how long it takes for each factor to duplicate itself. You told Lexa it would take approximately five hundred hours to have a machine duplicate itself provided that all materials were provided.”

“UmmHmm,” she hummed in agreement. Looking at the tablet and back at me as if she was unimpressed. 

“If my calculations are correct it only takes about four hundred hours to duplicate. So I ask again, what are you doing?"

“Ohh.” Raven finally took an interest in what I was saying. She stopped what she was doing for a brief second and her eyes glazed over just a bit. She immediately went back to what she was doing and it made me think that what I saw wasn't real but I knew it was. It was Raven’s only tell that she was speaking to someone using her neurological link. The only person she could speak to like that for the moment was Lexa or the HMS.

"Classified." That wasn't the response I was used to getting. Normally she tells me my math was shit and I should call Mrs. Turner, our kindergarten teacher, to review our lessons. The last time Raven said something was classified was when she returned home on crutches with her honorable discharge papers and a congressional medal of honor. She never actually said what happened and from the look on her face when pressed about it I didn’t want to know.

This time was different. The only person who is more highly ranked then Raven is Lexa and even that is more like a partnership. Ever since the battle was over and Lexa found out about her son she has been out of contact. I thought about going over to Lexa’s ship and checking up on her, but decided against it. My presence would probably just cause her more pain considering the ship saved me and not Aden. The only reason that anyone knew she was alive was thanks to Anya and Olivia. They have been keeping everyone organized for the past thirty- two hours thirty-eight minutes, not that I was counting. Raven said she was on a massive bender. So the only reason Raven wouldn’t tell me something is because she didn’t want to. 

“Classified my ass. You just don’t want to tell me.” 

“It's just a little… side project Clarke, let it go.” She took another drag from her joint and shook it at me. “Want some?”

I glared at her, she knew I didn’t smoke and I’m sure I would die trying in zero-g anyway. I think I know what she was getting at with this ‘secret’ side project. “You're building a factory for your’s and Lexa’s private use.”

It was Raven’s turn to glare. If there was one thing I knew about my friend it was that she hated being caught. “Lexa doesn’t know anything about this. I will rectify my estimates when the first one is built.”

Then who was she talking to? Was there someone else who was nanitized? If so then who? I doubt that Raven would tell me who her secret mind pal was so I would have to learn about it on my own. That didn’t mean that I planned on letting this go completely “But why? Isn’t your secret moon base going to be secure enough. I know Lexa plans to talk with the world governments to get us an island base or something, so we don’t have to steal anymore. Isn’t having two bases enough. And what do you mean by the first one?” 

“Do you know when the best time to hide your assets is?” Raven didn’t wait for my response. “When nobody knows you have assets. Star Force is going to get really big, really fast. There are going to be a lot of eyes on us for the foreseeable future, especially on the five of us specifically. We can’t keep the factories secret forever, we can’t even keep our bases ‘secret’ forever. Every satellite and telescope in the world is going to have their eyes pointed towards the skies, if they don’t already. It's only a matter of time till they’ll see the increased dust surrounding the moon, at the very least they’ll see our ships moving around it. Will even put a few factories on earth, which I think is just an invitation for an attack, but that isn’t my call. 

“Lexa doesn’t know that I am hiding away a few factories and putting it someplace no one could find it. I’ll set it up with a bunch of automated machines that would get the radioactives and things it needs to make more factories. I don’t know what it will be useful for. Maybe we will never use it. I sure as hell hope we don’t need it. But my duty as Admiral and a member of the inner circle is to secure the future of Star Force. I particularly am thinking ahead every idea about any plausible event that might occur. I try to come up with a weapon with a design with an idea, no matter what that is. But I can’t predict everything and we probably won’t have time. This is a long-term strategy with minimal downside. This is my plan Z.”

It is hard to find fault in her argument. It is what Raven said she wanted to do when Lexa pitched this crazy idea. But, I didn’t like keeping secrets from her, even if she was unavailable at the moment, we should at least tell Anya. I had a feeling that if she found out she would be less than happy that Raven diverted resources for a pet project, no matter the good intentions. But with the way Star Force is now Lexa and Anya are unlikely to notice a missing factory, and Lexa was unlikely to look into it any further if she found out the missing factory's last known location was with Raven. 

“Ok, I see your point and I may even agree with you. Though I still think you're hiding something from me. But where are you going to put these factories? Earth will eventually have our whole star system wired.” Raven tapped at her tablet and mine beeped 

“That file is just between you and me, Ok?” She gave me one of her classic winks. Though the menacing look in her eyes told me that if I didn’t keep this to myself she would space me, with about as much remorse as my first ejection from one of these ships. 

I decided I would pursue the file later. The stench in this room is starting to get to me and I was starting to get hungry.

“Fine, I’ll keep your secret but I’m reserving the right to input design changes as I deem fit.” I didn’t have the natural talent for engineering that Raven and my Dad did. But I sure knew how to sniff out frivolous bullshit and Raven’s designs always have extra crap that seems to have no purpose to anyone but her. I also wanted to investigate who else knew about this little project, before I confronted Raven again.

She nodded, seeming a little disappointed that some of her carefully planned designs would be scrutinized and disregarded. With that mystery partially resolved I moved onto my second reason for coming to this proverbial trash shoot. “You need some fresh air. You haven’t left this hovel since that battle ended over a day ago.” 

Raven rolled her eyes. She is used to having large periods of time go by without notice, when she is working on a project. I have told her on several occasions that prolonged cannabis use and her natural nonexistent internal clock was a recipe for disaster. “You smell terrible, your heart is now doubt pumping a thousand beats a minute from the amount of crap you have been eating, and there are bags under your eyes that will most certainly be permanent. Also we should let Mom know we are still alive. It has been five days since the first of the ships were spotted. She is probably shitting her pants. I bet she will be so happy we are alive she’ll make your favorite.”

"Feijoada?" Like a puppy Raven perked up at the idea of the meal. 

I nodded, knowing very well that I had no idea if Mom would make that. We would be lucky if she didn't beat us with a frying pan. She'll be on the war path I just know it and Raven should know it too, but in her slightly incapacited state, she wasn’t always good at recognizing inherent flaws in logic. Serves her right for not taking proper care of herself. 

All the news could talk about nowadays was about the alien spaceships, and the millions of missing people. The tests were now common knowledge and there were even people who armed themselves to the teeth and stood on rooftops in the hope of being chosen, crazy motherfuckers. The fact that Raven and I have been out of contact for the past several days could not be helping her mood. 

Obviously pleased she was moving, the joint long forgotten as the room began to clean itself of its own accord. The lingering smoke began to evaporate, crumbs and garbage began disappearing out of the ship. At least this was just a day and a halfs worth of garbage. I felt HMS decelerate as it began to turn from its assigned course. I felt the weight of gravity begin to press on me and planted my feet back on the floor. 

During the flight back from the battle Raven came up with a patrol pattern for ships, so we would get a faster response time in knowing when enemy ships were approaching. Four ships would rotate around the equator, two would rotate around the prime and 90th meridian, and eight more would be space out in the in-between places, for example 45°W 30°S. 

We were in the middle of our first twelve hour shift but Raven must have ordered one of the new people to take her place. “We should invite Lexa, Anya and Olivia, to join us. I know that she had been avoiding speaking with the Government’s directly. If she met Marcus, in an unofficial setting maybe she would be more inclined to open negotiations.” And clean herself up, I thought.

I heard the shower turn on as Raven thought about what I said. “You’re right. But I don’t think that is a very good idea Lexa’s still grieving hard. If the drunken mind calls I have been receiving have said anything. She is not thinking rationally. Plus she is even more reclusive than I am. How do we get them there?”

“Lie.” Raven laughed. She laughed so hard that I heard her start choking on the shower water. 

It took her several minutes to recover. “Didn’t Mom teach us to never lie.”

“She also told us not to get in trouble either. The box is already open, might as well look inside.” 

“I should be proud of you for learning so much from me. I’ll tell Lexa we need to have a strategy meeting or maybe a memorial in honor of our fallen, maybe I could tell her you want Mom to do a full health check up on us. She would totally geek out over the nanites. That sounds more believable right?”

“Will she buy that?”

“Doubt… But if I start ranting about equipment shortages she will probably agree just to get me to shut up.” Sometimes I forget how hyperaware Raven is about how other people view her. She acts like a stereotypical geek, only interested in her projects and rude to people she deems moronic, ninety percent of the time. But she is also very good at reading people's emotional responses and ‘persuading’ them into getting what she wants. Brilliant, motivated, manipulative, and vein, a recipe for disaster. I only hoped she would continue using her powers for good.

“If she kills you it's not my fault.” I heard Raven chuckle. I had a feeling she was about to have a bad afternoon and possibly evening. And it was definitely going to be my fault, even a genius can be manipulated. Maybe I should worry about using my own powers for good.


	9. Chapter 9

Clarke lied to me. There was no welcome home. There were no hugs or kisses or heartfelt runions and above all else, there was no feijoada. I should have known better, stupid hot box, stupid, stupid, stupid. I rue the day I taught her the art of deception. 

“What the fucking hell is wrong with you two?” Abby was not happy. “You don’t call, you don’t text, you couldn’t even be bothered to send a bloody email. Then you expect me to be all hugs and kisses when you come swooping out of the sky in a SPACESHIP. You two will be the death of me…”

Mama G was more furious than anything. She has worked herself into a pissed off pacing mess. Hair flying everywhere, arms waving with every angry word as she paced the length of the couch in front of us. 

You would think a parent would be happy that their children were alive and well after being picked up by an alien spacecraft that was intent on putting humanity through tests that resulted in success or death. Then surviving a battle with an unknown enemy that was launching missiles. But no, this was like when I came back from Iraq the first time. Granted I didn’t tell her I enlisted till the last moment (the day I shipped out) but you would think after a year of being shot at and literally blown up your mother would just be happy you were alive. But even after all of that, Abby Griffin screams at you. 

“I expect better from you, Clarke.” Ha… maybe she isn’t as mad at me as I thought. It's about time Princess took an ass chewing. Everyone always assumes that I am the troublemaker but I have always stood by the opinion that I am just cleaning up Clarke’s messes. Another reason could be the Mama G just expected me to do things like this, so she didn’t want to waste the energy to chastise me, when the effort would be futile at best. “Five days… Five days that’s how long I thought my girls were dead. And you couldn’t even bother to send me a text message with one of those ridiculous thumbs up emojis.”

“But…” Abby shushed Clarke, before she had a second to explain. 

“You’ll speak when I permit you to speak. This is my house and I will rant for as long as I want. I don’t care how old you think you are, I will ground your ass till your fifty.” The words were said with some much vile that it made my skin crawl. I believed that she would and could ground us until we were fifty. I wish Marcus was here then at least they could do the bad cop, worse cop routine. Right now it's just worse cop, who is also crazy cop. 

I have never seen Abby like this. Not even when Dad and I blew up the kitchen (twice). “And you…” She pointed an accusatory finger so close to my face it almost touched my nose. I guess she didn’t forget about me. “How dare you come into my house after five days high and drunk. While you were partying it up in your spaceship I have been worrying myself to death. If you had time to get the rapscallion Murphy on the line to deliver you your stash, you had time to visit your mother.”

I felt my jaw slacken and my eyes widen in surprise, how did Abby know who my supplier was? How did she know I was high? Because I certainly wasn’t drunk anymore after being screamed at for twenty minutes. I almost looked away to check in the mirror to see if my eyes were still bloodshot, but I knew they were and it would only piss her off more. “You didn’t think I knew that, did you? A mother knows more than you think. Especially when their children think they are oh so brilliant and that their parents are stupid.” I never thought she was stupid. I just thought I was smarter. 

Abby sighed, the wind seeming to leave her rage powered sails. “I truly thought I lost you two.” Tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. “Your apartment building was on the news, the windows were blown out or rather in. I kept telling myself it wasn’t you, it wasn’t you. But with every minute you didn’t call…” She was sobbing now dropping to her knees overcome by emotion.

The Griffin’s are my family. I never knew my father when I was young. My mother was a drug addict, and I’m pretty sure she forgot that I existed three quarters of the time. She even forgot to sign me up for kindergarten, till the state sent a letter, even then I filled it out myself. It wasn’t till I met Clarke that I truly felt like someone cared about me. 

Being two years older than everyone in your class, and wearing the same four shirts every week doesn’t make you a lot of friends. People would call me stupid, and assume I didn’t pass before. It didn’t help that I didn’t speak much English at the time. Clarke was the only one who didn’t make fun of me, so of course I latched on to her. She eventually invited me over and I never wanted to leave. 

Jake and Abby were always so nice to me. Even though I was afraid of them, especially Jake. The men my Mother always brought over were never kind to me. They even spoke in Spanish so that I would understand everything they were saying. Somedays eating with the Griffins was the only meal I would have that day or even that couple of days. 

It was maybe a year into my at least weekly visits with the Griffins when things became really bad at home, though I suppose really bad already described it. My Mom got a new boyfriend, and he was a total Jackass. I started coming to school with bruises, or rather hiding my bruises. I started avoiding spending time with Clarke and her parents, even though I really wanted to be there. I really wanted to tell somebody what was happening. But he always threatened to kill me or my mother if I ever said anything.

So I stayed away. I didn’t want the Griffins to be hurt by him too. But Clarke was persistent and eventually Abby came and picked us up at school. She saw the marks and was so mad, at the time I thought she was mad at me, especially when I wouldn’t tell her who did it. She refused to let me go home until I did, she even treated my injuries. 

Eventually I did tell her though and next thing I knew I was living with the Griffins permanently, though my mom had visitation rights she never used. By the time I was ten my mother overdosed and the Griffins adopted me. They have been the family I never knew I needed but also wanted. 

We moved, wrapping our arms around her to let her know we were here. “Lo siento Mama.” “I’m sorry, Mom.” We said simultaneously.

We should have thought to call. I felt tears blurring my vision as well as I buried my face in Abby’s neck. I was careful to restrain my strength as I wrapped my family in my arms, I didn’t want to crush them, especially Abby. We may have sat there for five seconds, five minutes or five hours. Who really knows… But at the sound of the latch opening we all looked up towards the door. 

“Honey… Did you know one of those alien spacecraft is parked beside the garage…? Should I call the military?” Marcus sounded panicked and he stormed his way to the living room.

Slap… and just like that she went from relieved crying to rage. “Fuck,” Abby cursed pulling her hand in on herself as she rubbed her injured fingers. If I would have cursed she would have slapped me again. I think if I wasn’t nanitized that would have really hurt. Luckily I had the foresight to lean away from the slap to avoid my nanitized body from breaking Abby’s fingers if not her whole hand. “What if one of the neighbors saw your ship?” 

She growled as she rubbed her slowly swell hand. “What are you made of metal?”

Clarke laughed through tear filled eyes. “You have no idea.” Clarke said grabbing her injured fingers with her own checking for any breaks.

“Stop that…” She said slapping her away with noticeable less force then she hit me. I would be offended that I always get the shit end of the stick, but my personality tends to be intentionally antagonistic. “I can take care of myself. Marcus it is fine. That is Raven’s ship.”

“WHAT? You have a spaceship? Do you know who is in charge? Are you in charge?...” His questions went on and on. He didn’t give either of us a chance to answer, I’m not sure if he was even breathing. The man looked bad. His normally perfectly pleated suit was wrinkled beyond belief, his hair was a mess sticking out at all angles. His beard had grown out a bit after not shaving for several days. He didn’t even ask for any details of the past few days. He just wanted to know if we could connect him to someone in charge. The government must be desperate for any information. Maybe I was wrong, it would have been crazy cop, desperate cop. He only stopped talking when a knock sounded at the door. 

“I’ll get it.” Clarke said standing from where she was on the floor. 

“B… Bu… But…” He tried saying in between breaths. 

“They will answer all your questions…” I patted his shoulder as I stood to greet our guest with Clarke. I had the unfortunate foresight that the rest of my day was going to be just this terrible. I should have stayed on the ship. “Probably.”

When Clarke opened the door the sight could be considered frightening. Anya pushed her way into the residence the moment Clarke turned the handle gun raised, looking intimidating as all hell. She was wearing an all black leather jumpsuit that somehow made her look super sexy despite how terrified. She glared at Clarke, using her shoulder to push Clarke out of the way. She completely ignored me which was super annoying. Was I not worth her attention? Stupid, sexy, cat suit wearing, bimbo. She didn't greet us, outside of shoving Clarke into the wall. She just started kicking open doors ready to scare potential inhabitants into submission. If the squeak that Marcus gave was any indication she scared the shit out of him as well. 

I should have known something like this would happen. "Is that a gun?" Abby said following us into the hallway after Anya cleared it. She was glaring and looked to be working herself into another mighty rant. Despite the other blonde ready to shoot anyone who pissed her off. 

Olivia entered next looking far less frightening than her aunt. She was wearing black jeans with a nice pink button up, a black bow tie finished look. Her hair was up in a simple ponytail Even though her height alone could be terrifying in itself she waved at Clarke and I blushing a bit, possibly out of embarrassment, as she walked in. She released the hold she had on the sword at her belt as she scratched the back of her neck. “Sorry, Auntie Anya is paranoid.” She looked around at the two other people.

“Hi I’m Olivia, you must be Clarke and Raven’s Mom. It is a pleasure to meet you Dr. Griffin. I have heard a lot about you.” She grabbed Abby’s comparatively small hand in both of her own and shook it. The older woman blushed at the teenager's easy smile. “Your paper on increasing the leukocytes resistance to radiation was indeed fascinating.”

Now I knew she was flirting. She still hadn’t let go of Abby’s hand as she gushed over her most recent article. Who even read those things, no one. 

Mom went from being slightly embarrassed by the attention to intrigued by how much the teenager knew about one of her favorite topics of discussions lately. Sadly her research may become of great benefit in the near future.

“Oh…” She said as if she didn’t realize that she was buttering Abby up, and finally released Abby’s hand. “There I go again. Gushing about a paper you probably hear about all the time.”

“Actually very few wish to talk about such things and please call me Abby.” Abby said, visibly pleased that someone took an interest in her work. I rolled my eyes, not believing how easily the older woman's rath could be curbed by Olivia’s easy going and excitable nature. I haven’t spent much time with the girl but if this interaction was anything to go by she is not someone who's shit list I want to be on. 

“Well we can discuss more about it at the party, speaking of…” She poked her head in the living room not seeing anyone else. “Where is everybody? I thought we would be meeting your friends.”

Apparently Lexa did buy my bullshit about celebrating life or whatever I said. “Well umm… There is no party.” She frowned looking a lot like her mother and aunt at that moment. On her shit list I may be. 

“So… Why are we here?” That was a good question that I didn’t think about how to answer. I glanced at Clarke begging for her help. But she was still faking injury at being slammed into a wall and waved me off. That’s sister solidarity for you.

“Umm…” I swallowed and shrugged my shoulders. 

Olivia’s frown and glare somehow got deeper yet also darker. “Is there at least food?”

“Uhhh… No.” I squeaked, She rolled her eyes while pulling her bow tie loose. 

“Well Abby,” she said, rolling her name around her tongue like it was a lollipop. I had to resist the urge to grimace, how old was that kid, less than twenty. “It seems I have some time to kill, and possibly some people, shall we speak more about radiation or if you're feeling up to it, I would love to hear a few hundred embarrassing stories you can tell me about Raven, preferable ones with pictures.”

Abby giggled, actually giggled like she was a school girl whispering secrets. I made a gagging motion towards Clarke and she nodded in agreement mortification being a primary emotion spread across her face. My mother and Olivia walked off talking in whispers but obviously enjoying each others company. 

“I wonder how long Liv studied so that she could turn Mom into a cougar. I don’t know whether to be impressed or mortified. She knows she's sixteen right?” Clarke whispered/yelled at me.

“Bigger question does Olivia know she’s married, and like fifty?”

“I think a teenager just stole my wife.” I clapped Marcus on the shoulder sure this wasn’t the first time a younger woman had stolen a wife of his. I realised I didn’t pull back and he staggered a bit. 

“Well at least you have at least another year to look forward to.” Clarke slapped my shoulder in reprimand. Even though she was hiding a grin as if she knew what I was thinking.

“Did… I miss something?” Shit, I forgot about her. 

Lexa, was leaning against the entryway blatantly amused by the situation. She was wearing her dark coat with the red seams, the newly designed Commander's insignia on her left shoulder. It was a red wheel like you would find on a pirate ship with red stars engraved into the six handles. We choose six because most of the highest ranking military leaders in history would only have five stars. Since Star Force is the most powerful military force the earth has ever seen our leader should have more stars, hence six. 

She held a flask in one hand and was currently taking a sip from it. This was not good. I haven’t seen Lexa drunk many times. But the few times I have she looked like this, perfectly normal to any other human being. But as far as I was concerned Lexa has never been a human being. The most emotion you could get out of her on a normal basis was a possible half smile and a twinkle in her eyes. Right now her smile was so big you could see her teeth. Like I didn’t even know she had teeth.

She wasn’t directly looking at us so I followed to where she was looking. She watched as Olivia and my mother talked by the bar. From the looks of it the young girl has convinced Abby to drink with her. Seriously did she really have no idea she was flirting with a teenager. 

“I’m… sorry about my daughter… she gets it from her Mother.” I don’t think I believed that one bit. She sounded better than she had in my head a few days before. But truly that wasn’t saying much, at least now she was speaking in a language I understood. “But might I say you look wonderful today Clarke.” She winked as she gave the blonde a once over. I was again beset with another urge to gag. 

“You don’t look half bad yourself.” Clarke flirted back. She had taken forever to get ready for this. Outside of all the medical equipment she wanted to design Lexa was the only thing Clarke talked about. The fact that the brunette was more or less completely trashed seemed to not reduce her enthusiasm for the blonde. I really needed to have another, talk to Clarke about her standards. They were absurdly low. “How much have you had to drink?”

“Who’s counting?” She says, her smile getting ever wider as she moved into the room and shut the door. She wasn’t visibly armed like her two companions but I had no doubt under that cloak there was half an armory. “But I was told there was a party? My… Becca Pramheda always said that to celebrate the dead you must enjoy life. Is it wrong to enjoy life?”

She pouted at Clarke and on what normally was a stoic exterior. It made the Commander look quite adorable. I looked at Clarke and she looked to be swooning over our leader. Despite my now apprehensions I’m glad my matchmaking skills were on point. 

“Umm… Excuse me.” Marcus said smoothing his hair back as much as possible to sooth. “I’m very confused, who are these people?”

All of our intentions turned towards Marcus. He looked like he was trying to put the pieces together but just couldn’t. 

“Raven… Clarke… Who is your friend? I do not recognize him as a member of Star Force.”

The moment of truth. “Heda Lexa, let me introduce you to Senator Marcus Kane. You're here to talk to him.” Lexa looked confused at Clarke’s words. 

“Senator of what?” she asked. 

“The United States.” Clarke said cooly as if death wasn’t immepending. 

“Of America?” She questioned, turning towards me. 

“Of America.” I confirmed. 

“Marcus, meet the Commander of Star Force, Lexa kom Trikru.”

“Ha… She dumped you real good Heda.” Anya said, coming down the stairs after doing a sweep. Of course Anya wouldn’t be pissed at being tricked. She just got even. “House is clear by the way.”

“There is no party.” She asked, looking very disappointed it was cute. If pouty lips and big water green eyes and a casual undertone of ‘don’t screw with me’ was your thing.

“No, we are here to have a conversation with an American government official, unofficially.” I said knowing I was digging myself a grave. 

“So instead of just telling me what you were planning from the beginning… you tricked me to your house.”

“Could you say you would have come otherwise?” She glared at her own toes as if she was in deep thought. Lexa knew I was right, she was just being stubborn.

“Why must you always bring me headaches?” Lexa lunged, hands reaching for my throat. I dodged her grip by inches. She didn’t give anything away before she lunged at me. How did she do that? I heard her slam into the wall but I didn’t wait to look and ran for my life. Possibly faster than any human has ever ran before.  
“You know…” I shouted behind me in between breaths, it has been a long time since I had run. “I feel like… it's the perpetual hangover… that gives you headaches. I’m just a fresh… glass of… water… in your life.”

“Fuck you, every time you speak you give me headaches.” I am certain if the neighbors were not already peeping at various strange activities at the Griffin house. They were most certainly intrigued by two people running down the lane doing forty miles an hour. I hoped we didn’t get a speeding ticket.

“Your mind… must just know… when to accept… my brilliance.”

After what felt like six miles or so, I dared to take a look behind me. Lexa was in pursuit and she was gaining fast. She probably would have already caught me but this isn’t the first time I have ran like a bat out of hell in this town. Having a nanite enhanced frame made it a thousand times easier to hop fences. In fact I could hop bigger and badder fences now. And I only scared a couple dozen people to do it. 

Lexa was looking worse for wear, blood ran down the side of her face. She must have scratched it up when I ran her through the hops field, or when she went straight through a fence. She was covered in mud and looked thoroughly pissed off. I begged my nanites to push my new leg harder. To push my whole body harder but I knew that wasn’t how they worked. I was sure that she would catch me soon, but I wasn’t about to make it easy for her. 

I looked up at the cloudy sky, the sun was setting like I have only seen it once before. The sky was like something out of a photograph. At the horizon it was red as the color of blood, the clouds reflected red light onto the surrounding sky. It was ominous like the night the nanoships came for the first time. Clarke mentioned that since the first alien ships came to earth that the sunsets have always been like this, I guess this is the first time I have been out of my ship since that day. . Unfortunately my contemplation was my downfall. What was once the sky was now gone as I felt arms wrap around my waist pulling me down. My only view was of the hard pavement and before I could pull my arms up to protect my head, my world went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry Raven... Kinda'


	10. Chapter 10

Five miles… I chased that annoying scientist, five miles through every crumbling back alley street, mud soaked farm and old woman’s fence this town had to offer. How dare she trick me? I was going to contact the world governments when I was good and ready. I know it was selfish but once the world governments knew my face they wouldn’t hesitate to bother me all night and day critiquing my every move and judgement. You have to be prepared for that sort of condescending bullshit. 

It doesn’t matter now though, a government official has seen my face and no matter how loyal he is to Clarke and Raven, he will be obliged to inform the Americans and as a result the rest of the world who I am. I wasn’t wholly unprepared to negotiate, in fact I really didn’t have to do much. Clarke and Anya already had the pitch prepared. My presence was the only thing that was strictly necessary. But I hated surprises, and my little tantrum earlier would probably not put much faith in my abilities to lead. 

I had Raven slung over my shoulder in a fireman's carry as I made my way down the street, I believed their house was. Everything seemed to blur togehter while I was in my murder haze but judging by the people staring I was going in the right direction. I smiled and waved to them like I was covered in shit from half a dozen farms. And there were not splinters sticking out of my hair, there was no point in making them worry more than necessary. 

“Is she high again?” An old woman shouted from a few houses down the street. I raised my eyebrow at her wondering if she was talking to me. I looked around seeing no one else around. I assumed she was speaking to me. 

“Oh no…” I said smiling. Having no idea if Raven was high or not, but I gave it a fifty fifty shot. “Miss Reyes is just taking a little nap. Nothing to be concerned about.”

The old woman looked amused at that. “You don’t have to cover for her dear. Raven and her demon of a sister have been causing trouble since the day they met. I was a blessing from god when those two moved out.”

Did she just refer to Clarke as a demon? There had to be a story behind that. “Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping them out of trouble now. I am sure they won't be bothering you any longer.”

“Honey, it's not me I’m worried about. Bless you soul.” With that the old woman went back inside. I continued wondering what those two did to their next door neighbor to cause such disdain. I looked back to check if Raven was still doing… average, when I kicked the back of her head, her face slammed into the concrete. And with how fast we were running it is no surprise that the skin on the left side of her face was currently missing. Causing a trail of blood to run the whole way down the street. She would probably be fine.

As I approached the Griffin resident my mind was only filled with only one question. And when I opened the door I was confronted by Clarke and couldn’t help myself from asking. “Clarke… What did you do to that poor woman next door?”

The tips of her ears turned red as she heard my question. She was picking glass off the floor from my unintended collisions, but had now stopped due to my current state of being. “What happened to you?” She tried to act like she wasn’t interested by diverting my attention to my current state of being, but the rapidly spreading blush was causing my interest to grow and I was not about to be denied an answer.

“Hops farm and a fence. You didn’t answer my question Griffin?” She started pulling out the little splinters that had been slowly pushing their way out of my body, looking very guilty.

“What did she say?”

“She mentioned that you were a demon and she blessed me for being your acquaintance.” Clarke flinched and grimaced as her face turned a delightful shade of red. 

“She gave her husband a heart attack on Halloween one year.” Abby called from the kitchen. “She has hated her ever since.”

“It was just a little prank, who knew the man was deathly afraid of clowns.” 

“He died, Clarke.” Abby sighed, as she chopped through an onion. “It's a good thing he was already in his nineties or a hateful old woman would be the least of your worries.”

The aforementioned clown looked embarrassed as all hell, her face having turned as red as a tomato. Apparently this has been a common conversation in the Griffin household. I would be sure to lock this information away as a trump card. Maybe I shouldn’t find this amusing since the man died, but it couldn’t be helped. “Do you have some napkins? Raven is going to get blood on your floor.”

“I don’t think napkins will even come close to fixing this mess. Why would she… Oh…” Clarke must have just realised that her friend was hanging off of my back. Not looking very good and her earlier embarrassment quickly shifted to rage.“What is wrong with you… is she even alive?”

“Most certainly, she's just sleeping. Nothing to worry about.” Clarke walked behind me and gasped.

“Half her face is gone. How is this nothing?” Clarke ran into another room I'm guessing to get a med kit. 

Anya walked by and grunted most likely in approval. “You kicked her in the back of the head didn’t you.” I nodded, she clapped me on the shoulder and grinned. Even though I have been nanitized it still hurt. What were her hands made from graphene? “Paying it forward are you.”

I grimaced but tried to play it cool by shrugging. Anya did in fact do something similar to me on several occasions during my training. I learned very quickly never to run from a punishment.

I walked over to the couch and tossed Raven down on it. Clarke could treat her there. I checked my face in one of the pictures the gash that was once spewing blood had now stopped. If only because of how much caked on dirt there was on my face. My face itches worse than anything, the nanites crawling under my skin sewing together my separated skin. I'm sure it would scar temporarily until the nanites got around to fixing that too. “I need a shower.”

“Later,” Anya said, handing me a wet nap and I began the not so successful task of whipping muck off my face. “You should speak to the Senator first.”

I took a deep breath. I truly hated being filthy but I needed to be the Commander right now. “Senator, I apologize. We members of Star Force are a bit… eccentric at times.” I turned to him hoping this would be a relatively short conversation followed by a shower. He changed since I was last in the house. He had a new suit on and he looked far more put together than when I first arrived though I wasn’t paying that much attention so he could be the same. “Eccentric individuals need… eccentric discipline.”

“Eccentric, sure is a word for that.” He gestured towards the still unconscious form of Raven, bloodying a perfectly good couch. I would have to buy them another one. 

“It was how I was trained, we StarForce types are hard to kill.”

Anya seemed to be taking a position at my side hand on her hosilter like she was ready to shoot the senator if he breathed wrong. Which I was sure she most certainly would. “Patrol the perimeter. We may be here for sometime. I don’t want anyone getting too curious over HMS.”

The only conformation I got was a disapproving grunt as she exited the house to go terrify the neighborhood. “I apologize for my General's rudeness, this situation has been stressful for us all.”

“Yes, it sure has been. I must say I am surprised to see that the leader of… Star Force is a woman and so young.” 

“People like a strong voice, no matter who it comes from. And despite my appearance I am not very young, just good genes and genetic experiments. I don’t think you wish to spend our first political conversation discussing the inner workings of my organization. I will be blunt as of about an hour ago, four hundred nano ships have currently chosen what they call ‘Command Personal.’ All of those ships are under my direct command and are no longer killing random people. You must realise my officers are not all the best people in the world. They are survivors, and more and more of them are what the news has been calling ‘fighters’. My only goal is to destroy these invaders. These machines that have come to our world and dare to bring us into their war. Right now we are on the side of the nanos. Those are the ships that are lifting people out of the sky and murdering them. The ship you must have picked up on your telescopes last night we are calling the Macros, they are also machines, but they are not based on nanotechnology.”

I paused knowing that was a lot of information to take in. “Olivia,” I waited to hear her move into the room at my summons. “Please give the Senator a notepad.”

She slid one from somewhere and placed it along with a pen in front of Marcus. “Anything else?” She asked. 

“Please stop flirting with Clarke's mother, she's married and nearly three times your age.”

“Our love may be forbidden but that is what makes it unspeakably desirable.” She winked at me as she left the room. 

“Love is it?” I mumbled taking a deep breath in frustration. “In a few short days she went from being a normalish teenager, to being a space pirate. If that isn’t a popularity boost, I don’t know what is.”

“Teenagers are like a different species. I never had any of my own but from the stories Abby has told me, that may have been a small miracle.” I nod agreeing with his statement.

“As I recall, you are on one of the foreign relations committees.” He nodded confirming my suspicions. “Star Force can and will stay an independent entity, but we need to end some of our practices. For example we cannot continue to steal, it's bad for our image.”

“What would you need?”

“A base, something like an island with a port. Somewhere where we can receive supplies and not have to steal food every few days when we run out. I would also suggest we gather a budget, but I would be willing to speak to the UN on that, this should be a worldwide effort. You will have to speak with my general staff about the specifics. We will also need a lot of raw resources, Raven can provide you with an extensive list.”

Marcus frowned. “Why raw resources? What will you do with them?” 

“Many incredible things.” I say cryptically. He didn’t press for more details even though I knew he wanted, too. 

We talked for a while longer, but without any official capacity he couldn’t make any promises. “Can I ask one more question, Heda?”

I nodded seeing no issue with it. “You mentioned you were trained. Where were you trained? I've never dealt with any organization that had a leader called Heda before.”

I looked at him seeing no judgement. “Have you ever heard of Trikru, Senator?”

His eyes widened in shock and he looked to have choked on the very air. “I thought they were destroyed ten years ago. It was before I took this position on the foreign relations committee but I was briefed.”

“As far as I know Anya and I are the only survivors, but I wouldn’t be surprised if more came out of the woodworks because of this new threat.”

“I am not sure whether I am happy or terrified about that.” I am almost certain he was absolutely shitting his pants. And that the American Government would collectively shit their pants when they found out, if they didn’t already know or at least suspect. 

He left then, to inform the various governments that he had made official contact with Star Force’s leader. Though further meetings will be needed I felt confident that for the time being we would have an understanding.

“Marcus sure ran out of here fast. Did your talks go well?” Clarke asked, as she carried a tray of utensils Abby must really be going all out for this. I hope I am not causing her grief. 

“It was only an introduction. I’m sure my further talks will be far less pleasant.” She frowned a bit at my statement.

“Why would that be?” I played with the silverware in front of me, trying to find a good way to put this. 

“Imagine you have everything. Power, money, influence, and more of all of that than you could ever possibly need. Then suddenly a gang moves in, and starts shaking down your people for money and there is nothing you can do about it. Then said gang says we will stop harassing your people as long as you provide them money. How would you feel?”

“I would be pretty pissed off.” Clarke says

“That is how the American government and likely every world government feels right now. They have no choice. No matter how reasonable my ‘requests’ may be. They have no room to negotiate. I hold all the cards. And because of my background, they will be even less inclined to believe I have the best interest of the world in mind. They will see me as a thug and treat me like an incompentant child.” It was true because of the reputation my title carried, it was likely that the officials would do a background check on every single person in this organization. I would think that if they do not already have a spy amongst our ranks, they will soon.

“That would be ridiculous. You are our leader. Everyone in Star Force chose to follow you for a reason, not just because you just happened to be the scariest dog in the cage.” That may be true, but I am the scariest. If the first battle told anything to everyone else in Star Force it was that disobedience was a death sentence. 

“Let’s not talk about business, May I use your facilities? I am in great need of a shower.”

“Of course, use the one in my room. Up the stairs, third door on the left. I will grab you some clothes as well.” I smirked to myself feeling I couldn’t help but tease the younger woman. 

“Nothing too promiscuous, I do hope.” She flushed deeply, eyes dilating a bit at the idea. Was I always able to notice little details like this? I didn’t think so, I would have to be careful as to not get creepy about it.

She glared at me and chucked a fork towards my face that I easily caught. And tossed back on her tray. “It is not nice to tease people.”

“I couldn’t help myself. I never let a woman dress me without at least a date first.” I smirked at her. 

“I highly doubt that Professor.” She smirked back her eyes, twinkling a bit. “Take your shower dinner will be ready soon.”

“Fine,” I sighed dramatically. “But I do intend to find out more about this demon Clarke. I think I might like her.”

I saw her grab more utensils to throw. But I was up the stairs before she had the chance.

After fifteen or so minutes I felt much better. Getting the worst of the mess off of my body. I intended to help with the cooking or something but Clarke waved me off, once she saw me. 

“Don’t bother, Olivia is helping Mom and Raven is still passed out on the couch. Did you have to hit her so hard?”

“No, but I chased her for five miles, so she received five times the punishment. It is a shame that her face smacked against the concrete, but a lesson well learned.” 

“What lesson is learned from having half your face ripped off?” Clarke asked exasperated. 

“Don’t run.” I said simply, she rolled her eyes.

“And I would guess Anya was the archetype for that particular lesson.” I shrugged non committedly. “Why is everything I learn about you followed by a painful memory?”

“You tend to remember things that are a response to pain. If it makes it any better that was a pretty good memory. The only reason she kicked me in the back of the head was because Costia and I kept throwing her things in the lake.”

“And why would you do that?” I smiled 

“Gustus dared us, but don’t tell her that. We were sworn to secrecy.” Clarke giggled as someone tapped my shoulder.

“I knew that wasn’t your idea, for two weeks I didn’t have a pair of dry clothes. You deserved to be kicked in the back of the head, you little shit. I should do it again now.” She slapped the back of my head as she plopped beside me. She placed a bowl of something that looked and smelled delicious in front of me. It was some sort of stew with black beans, beef or possible sausage. Side dishes of rice and some orange slices. “Eat your food branwada.”

“Why don’t you wait till the host sits?”

“But we haven’t had a good meal in days.” I grunted in agreement but still waited. We have been living off of MRE’s and I know how much Anya hated those. I didn’t much care, I’d eat pretty much anything except for broccoli. 

It was a few more moments before Abby came in, with Olivia on her tail. The older woman seemed flushed at the constant affection she was receiving from my daughter. I wonder when was the last time someone spoke to her this much. Especially a teenager who was certainly pleased to be receiving the older woman's attention.

“Haven’t you tortured Dr. Griffin enough, Olivia? I’m sure there are other people's company she would enjoy.”

The woman laughed. “Liv is no bother Heda, I quite like the attention. My own children tend to ignore me in my advanced age and I get so lonely.” Oliva must like Abby a lot; she only lets a few people use her nickname. That list was so short I think I’ve only heard Aden, Clarke, Anya and Abby call her that, I was convinced she would kill me if I were to call her that. Apparently she has a weak spot for blondes. She feigned sadness towards Clarke. Who just rolled her eyes. 

“We work at the same hospital and Raven calls you almost every other day. Plus we saw you last week. This is probably the first time you have been home this week. Being head of surgery doesn’t leave you with much free time.”

“Work doesn’t count, Clarke.” She huffed. “Just because my time was occupied doesn't mean I don’t enjoy your company.”

“Ahhhh… my head. I think you fractured my skull. I can feel the crack.” Raven said prodding the back of her head as she sat down beside Clarke, at the other end of the table from Abby. Even though only an hour ago she looked like she was hit by a small train. “What do you mean, was? Do you not work at the hospital anymore?”

“How are you even conscious? I thought you just fell.” Abby exclaimed shocked at the revelation, as she rounded on the table to check Raven’s wounds. As she prodded the Dr. frowned even deeper. At this point I had already started eating, I was hungry and it has been awhile since I had relaxed this much. At some point Olivia brought me something to drink, it was some ridiculously fruity strawberry mess of a drink that only a teenager would love. I hated it but figured she was made at me for something and kept my mouth shut. “How did this heal so quickly? People die from injuries like this. And, there seems to be some sort of shrapnel embedded in your skull. We need to take you to the hospital. Who knows what damage has occured…”

“Mom.” Clarke interrupted, before the frantic doctor could haul Raven up. “It’s ok, they are nanites. They are knitting her back together at the atomic level. She will be fine in an hour.”

Abby looked even more confused and Clarke began to explain, between bits of food. Abby went from being disgusted by what she perceived as a debilitating injury to being curious as Clarke got into the nitty gritty of what she had been learning about the nanites. Which to my surprise was a considerable amount. 

“The nanites won't allow her to die easily. In fact the only reason she was allowed to leave her ship was because she is essentially indestructible. A thin layer of the nanites acts like a sort of exoskeleton sort of like an extra bone. I would guess that even if you exploded a grenade, and it wasn’t directly in her face she wouldn’t die. They have weaved themselves into every system, reinforcing and enhancing everything for max efficiency. You should see the modifications she has made to her prosthetic, she wired it into the nerve endings.”

Abby was completely enraptured. At some point she pulled a scalpel from someplace unknown, and was prodding at the skin around the cut. “Fascinating,” she mumbled as she began to cut into Raven's skull.

“What the hell do you think you're doing back there? You know I can feel that.” Raven growled, I didn’t blame her, the nanites didn’t reduce pain even in the slightest and sometimes they even caused it for your own benefit. What benefit that was only they may ever know?

“Watch your mouth and hold still. Your wound is closing on me and I want to continue examining it. Shut up and eat.” Raven grumbled but complied, wincing everytime Abby made a new cut as she shoveled food into her mouth.

“It’s not fair why I must be the Guinea Pig. Lexa is nanitized too you know, why don't you cut open her skull.”

“Because you got blood all over my favorite couch, again.”

“Lexa did that, how is it my fault?”

“Lying to one's superior officer can result in negative consequences.” Raven glared at my words.

“And running from said consequences only irritates the situation.” Anya smirked.

“I see how this is, just as usual. Clarke comes up with some ridiculous scheme and I get kicked in the back of the head. For the enjoyment of all the sadists in the room. Are you happy now Griffin?” I looked at Clarke, who was looking far too innocent for anyone not guilty of something. 

“Anything to say for yourself, Clarke.” I couldn’t help the small smile that crept across my face at the obvious discomfort the blonde showed. It was obvious to me now that she was the mastermind behind this whole plot. Raven’s a lot of things but a political schemer is not one of them. I am certain that the engineer would still be locked on her ship doing whatever she does. I would guess it has a lot to do with making something dangerous or at least the prototype for something dangerous. 

I will be honest Clarke is a bit of an enigma to me. One second she could be quietly observing everything and gathering information. The next she could be solving arguments that I didn’t even know existed. In fact, I am pretty sure she is the reason that many of the pilots haven’t caused significant problems. I should really give her a rank. 

Now I get to see a new side of Clarke, the schemer. She manipulated Marcus and I into having a long overdue meeting and she did it while keeping her hands clean of any resulting issues. It was masterfully done and I was surprised to find myself even more intrigued by the young woman, and also terrified. 

“I only gave Raven a suggestion.” Clarke said, innocently enough, but we all knew better. 

“Suggestion my ass.” Raven winced as the words came out. Abby must have made a particularly deep incision.

“Remind me to never get on your shit list,” Anya said. “You would dig my grave and have the shovel take the fall.”

Privately, I agreed, I did not want to piss Clarke off either.

That’s when I heard the window break in a spindly black arm came rushing in grabbing Raven around the waist. Her eyes popped out in shock as the arm pulled her out of the house. Abby screamed, not having ever seen the careful and considerate way that the nano ships treated their command personnel. 

“Extraction imminent.” The Dutchman announced in my head. I nodded standing from my table.

“I guess she didn’t program the ship to warn her before pick up.” I chuckled. “Dr. Griffin thank you for the hospitality, I will pay for a new window and couch. Clarke, I leave you in charge of negotiations with the world governments, I want a base by the end of the week and supplies in two.”

“But I don’t know how to negoti…” I glared at her and she shut up conceding defeat. With that I jumped out of the now open window and the Dutchman snatched me up before I even touched the grass. I had a battle to win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how I feel about this chapter. I've change this so many times, but just couldn't make it feel right.
> 
> Sorry people I am in a very piss poor mood about this whole Corona nonsense and have had a terrible week. So you can stop here if you don't want to read about my every annoyance this week or this month, possible even forever. 
> 
> Anyway I am posting this, off of my laptop which is not my favorite. But had to go to back to the dealership cause the bastards didn't tell me they aren't not doing Saturday appointments right now. Had to pick up all my shit and drive four hours for a surprise visit at my father-in-laws. Yeah I know 'stay at home.' But I have a fucking warranty people I need that warranty. Fucking Jackass Hyundai dealers.
> 
> My mom keeps telling me I'm going to get the Corona if I hang out with my friends. I'm twenty-four, and speak to four people, I've spent nearly everyday for three years. I've been puked on and puked on these people more times than I care to admit. We don't talk to other people and eighty percent of the time where drunk. I'm not getting Corona Mom they live in my house. 
> 
> I'm pretty sure I am the only person who is seriously loving this Quarantine. I get to work from home half-naked and completely drunk. I don't have to fake interest in my co-workers lives or them in general. I get to write this story uninterrupted for hours. I took a four hour nap today while on the clock and nobody said anything or probably didn't even notice. This is the best. The only down side is that everyone I have ever spoken to is bored and wants to call me. I didn't want to talk to you before, so why would I want to do it now. I'm talking to you random dude I met during orientation who called me for forty-five minutes while I was binge watching the Marvel Cinematic universe. Come on dude Spider-man won't make it if I don't warn him its a trap. 
> 
> Sorry for the bitching, I am just so done and can't wait for everyone to forget I exist like normal.
> 
> Anyway I will MAYBE, go back through it when I get back home and change some stuff but none of it will effect the story it will just be for my own self doubts. 
> 
> Well enjoy your quarantine, stay safe, wave to your neighbor, sleep in, buy a case of beer. Try not to buy to much on the internet. If you all hate me know thats fine to, get in line. 
> 
> Wow... I am such a bitch.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all who continue to read this and comment and kudo's and whatever else ya'll do. Writing this is seriously the biggest highlight of my life write now and the fact there are wonderful people out their enjoying my writing, is incredible. This is from someone who was in remedial writing classes since the beginning of time. Like I was terrible and still am but I am hopefully getting better. 
> 
> I am so... so... sorry for this being a week late but I have a terrible excuse. 
> 
> I write a lot, and sometimes I get bored and write other stories just to get those out of my head. their is about five stories in my google drive that have over five chapter's or so. I would say two of them are pretty solid and will most likely be posted after I finish this story or them. Because for some reason every time I write a fun little one shot I go, 'but what if?' BAMM, there goes my weekend every freakin' time.
> 
> So last week I was just really in the mood to write that and just didn't find the motivation to edit this chapter. Most of the chapters I write way ahead of when I posted them or at least the majority of them. So it's pretty much me going back and making sure things make sense for things I said in the past or in the future. 
> 
> After I was done screwing around with some of my other stories I came to this, and I hated it. So I scrapped it and started over. I took me several days to figure out what was so wrong with it then I popped this out yesterday and edited it, sat on it. And now I am pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy, sorry for any mistakes. I do hope they are getting better.

“Heda, we have three incoming ships of the same type as before.” Captain Jaha announced over the general channel. Despite his irritants, the man held a lot of 'trust' with many of the members of Star Force; it would have been a mistake to dismiss him entirely. Plus he was competent and kept some of the more irritating individuals from pestering me with endless questions. 

I analyzed the forward screen trying to get our bearings for the coming battle. The enemy was in a triangle formation coming from sun-wards. First they send one ship, now they send three. 

They were basically right on top of us. “How did they get in so close? I thought we had sentries stationed so that this wouldn’t happen.”

“Heda,” Another voice said. “The sentries at the north pole are not responding. I think the Macros destroyed them before they could be detected by the next patrols sensors.”

I growled, they knew we would be watching for a second attack and made sure they could get closer to the planet. Our ships were disorganized and out of position. The enemy planned this well. They attacked while the majority of my fleet was on the other side of the planet. I don’t like an enemy who knows your moves before you even think of them. How long were they planning this… invasion; ten years, hundred years, a millennium, more? Or do they just have so much experience invading worlds that they have no need for intense planning? They just followed a preset series of escalating events, that their animatronic minds have laid out as the most plausible series of events. 

I shook those thoughts away. Did it really matter how long they have wanted this planet? Did it really matter if they were trying to save us or destroy us? I doubted it. For better or for worse we were on the side of the Nano’s at least til our gentle benefactors realized us from their service. I had to get back on track and keep my people focused, not on the potentially uselessness of all this fighting. 

“How many ships do we have that will reach the enemy before they reach the atmosphere?” 

“A little over one hundred, Heda.” I confirmed Jaha’s numbers on my own screens. I couldn’t get mad, it would do no good. It took a hundred of our smaller ships to take out the first ship; they were just so much larger than the nano ships. It took nearly thirty percent of the fleet to take down one, now we have three

A few of my ships were racing towards the enemy way ahead of the rest of the fleet. “Ships about to engage with the enemy, order your ships to turn around.”

“We can’t…” One of the Captains said. “Our ships won’t let us.” 

Damn, it won’t let them retreat. Suddenly two of the three ships changed formation. “Heda, The first ship is going to fly over the north pole. The second is going to come down over Russia in about a half hour and the third is going to fly over South America but it is going the long way around the planet, so two hours for that one.” Raven said helpfully, she sounded ruffled, probably from her window exit. 

“Try ordering your ships to target a different vessel. The hundred ships that are on track for the north pole continue on and destroy it, contact me when it is done. Everyone else goes after the ship flying over Russia. We cannot allow them to bomb Asia. We will deal with the South American ship after the first is destroyed.” A resounding ‘Yes Heda’ was chanted over the channel. Now all we have to do is sit and wait until we are in range.

We didn’t have to wait long. When the first of my ships reached the weapons range of the ship over the north pole, they launched a barrage of missiles at close range. It came as a shock to all of us, we figured they liked to fire missiles at range. We didn’t even consider the Macro’s would blow their load right in our face. 

My forces didn’t stand a chance of dogging or shooting them down, they just reacted too slowly. Fifteen of the sixteen missiles destroyed their targets. The concussion blast from the nuclear warheads killed another ten. I smashed my fist into my command chair breaking the arm off. Apparently no matter how reinforced you make it, a few powerful well placed blows from an enhanced human being would break down any furniture. 

“Spread out as much as you can. I don’t want that happening again.” Within a matter of minutes the first ship was destroyed. As the ship went down over the polar ice caps it fired the last of its thirty-two missiles. Only a few of the missiles hit our ships this time. A rousing cheer went up among our ships and I stewed, I fucked up and now twenty-five of my people were dead. I need to start thinking ahead, really ahead, and I need to do it soon before I get a whole lot more than fifty or so people killed. I wasn’t delusional enough to think that everyone on those ships were alone. 

This was my first real view of one of the Macro ships. The last time was in the blackness of space with only the sun as a backdrop, we didn’t get a very good idea but now with them hovering over the planet sinking into the lower atmospheres. Both the Nano and Macro ships were black in color. Where the Nanos were shaped sort of like a horseshoe crab, the Macros were more like a shark with thirty-two missile ports spaced evenly in the front of the vessel. It didn’t have any other armament that I could see and I assumed they didn’t. If they did they would have used it already, or so I hoped. 

“The first ship is down. Switch targets to the ship about to fly over South America.” I direct the Dutchman to give me a private channel with Reyes. 

“Lexa, what's up?” She said. 

“I don’t think we will make it before the ship flies over Chile and Argentina. These ships do not seem to have anything that would be considered bombardment cannons. What do you think they plan to do?”

“I don’t know, but I am certain that we are not going to like it.” I agreed and cut the channel

The ship flying over Europe barely made it into the upper atmosphere. We didn't lose as many ships this time, ten ships were caught in the missile barrage. We had more ships this time, almost one hundred and fifty. I ordered all my ships to fly to the ship over South America. “Dutchman, what are those? Are they launching more missiles?”

Why fly so low, why send ships that had nothing but missiles to defend themselves, I soon found my answer. New little red contacts started launching out of the other ship. “New contacts do not meet the classification known as… missiles.” Her unemotional robotic voice spoke. Even in combat the Dutchman was as unfeeling as ever. 

“What are they then?” I asked, annoyed at the ship's inherent caginess. 

“They could be considered… invasion craft.”

“Invasion craft…? You mean to tell me they are launching… Ground troops at Argentina, for what purpose?” I knew I was raising my voice for no good reason the ship didn’t care if I was agitated. It only cared if I was functioning ‘Command Personal’ and if I wasn’t, well… there were a few billion replacement candidates down on the planet.

“To gather raw resources and remove indigenous life forms.” I swear the Dutchmen was almost gleeful as she said it. 

“So they are launching some sort of mining machines to gather resources and build more Macros. And when we inevitably resist, they will destroy us.” I didn’t ask a question so the Dutchman did not answer. 

I ordered Dutchmen to open a channel to all my ships flying towards the last invasion ship. “Take out that ship, it has fired invasion crafts. Destroy them all before the ship can launch more. A squad two try to take out the equipment that just touched down.”

The next thirty minutes were tense. My ships crawled along at what felt like an agonizingly slow pace as more and more pods, or crafts, or whatever were launched at the earth's surface. By the time the last ship went down it launched a total of nine of these so called invasion crafts and destroyed three more of my ships. The ships that took it upon themselves to fire at the bubble like domes that popped up didn’t survive. Nine more of my ships exploded as missiles fired at them and inevitably chased them down.

Private channel requests came in from just about everyone. Over the general channel there were cheers of victory and cries of shock when the ships were destroyed over the domes. But overall, morale was high for the fleet. I checked to see that Reyes and Jaha weren’t stupid enough to take a flyby over one of those domes. Luckily their little blue beads were still floating around. 

I changed the coloring of some of the beads, I made mine golden and a little bigger than the rest. Reyes and Jaha’s and a few of the others that weren’t completely useless, I made them blue so that I could quickly identify them. Everyone else I left green. Unknown things like commercial planes, military aircraft's, satellites and such things were all yellow. I didn’t think any of those things were going to shoot at me but I would rather not be surprised when they got blown out of the sky by the Dutchman because a trigger happy hero decided to take a pot shot at my ship. 

I should be celebrating with them, I was the Commander of this fleet and we had a fleet victory. But what of the people in South America, they were probably all about to be murdered and it was all my fault. My shortsightedness, I should have separated my forces evenly. I should have ignored the ship over the north pole. The worst part about all of this is that not only will I blame myself, every military on the planet was going to blame me too. 

I sat for at least two hours as the situation in Argentina became far worse than I could have possibly imagined. I watched through the satellites in orbit as the Macros cleared forests, and towns alike. They walked over everything like it was nothing and too the monsterish hundred foot tall Star Wars knock off murder machines that came rolling out of the mile high, three miles in diameter domes an hour after the gigantic things went up. People died in their thousands. At the end of the third hour an airstrike was launched with even more disastrous results than Star Forces. 

A squadron of Argentine fighters were sent on a bombing run over one of these domes. Before they were within thirty miles of the target they were shot down by anti-air missiles, the fighters never stood a chance. It was like a toddler getting a soccer ball kicked at them, you saw the failure before it even happened. 

“Priority Call from the HMS Raven Reyes.” I should really answer her call. I have been out of contact for almost four hours. I am sure that Raven is being put under an infinite amount of pressure from a select group of individuals to know my whereabouts. Considering I am almost through with my first bottle of rum I should seriously check in. Alcohol didn’t work for me like it used to. I had to drink nearly triple the amount to just feel a light buzz and right now I was regretting taking the injections so that those blasted nanites wouldn’t be scraping my liver for every last drop of my precious rum. I should consider saving it, because if we cannot stop the Macros advance, Caribbean rum may be a luxury. 

“Open channel.” I mumbled, if I didn’t answer soon Raven would be the least of my worries.

“Where in the hell have you been? Do you know how long I have been calling? Hours Lexa… Hours… puta.”

I ignored that last part. “I know… I know, I’m sorry.” I said, trying to keep my voice as even as possible. I didn’t want Raven to know just how much I have had to drink.

“Are you drunk?” Damn. “At this time… Millions of people are dying and/or about to die, and you’re getting drunk?” Raven shouted, the volume of her voice nearly blew out my ear drum. 

“I’ve had a few but I’m not drunk. I have been observing the situation and I have a plan.” I didn’t really but I had the inkling of one. 

“Am I going to like this plan, Commander?” Raven asked skeptically. She was always skeptical when I had an idea. Probably because she always thought my ideas were stupid. At least until she gives her version of my idea which ninety percent of the time is the same thing but with technical babble splashed in between. Shouldn’t she just be happy that I have faith that she can execute the things I suggest. But this I think she will like.

“I am going to need you, Clarke, Olivia, Anya and Jaha to come to my ship. We are having a staff meeting.” I cut the channel. 

I waited for several more hours before the Dutchmen informed me of their arrival. I was in the middle of making myself a snack and preparing to take a bite out of my sandwich when it was snatched out of my hand. Anya had grabbed it from me and was now eating half of it and handing the other half to Olivia. I supposed that served me right. 

I started making myself another sandwich I haven’t eaten since Dr. Griffin's house, and I felt myself getting cranky. “Are you really not going to say anything?” Clarke asked, I glanced over at her from my task.

“Say anything about what?” I asked, not knowing what she was talking about. 

“The whole disappearing act.” She huffed exasperated. 

“I was thinking.” I said, simply.

“That's not what I heard.” Someone grumbled. I shot a glare at Raven and she recoiled and removed herself from my sight. Maybe my approach with Raven was too harsh but I find it hard to deny its effectiveness. Though it seems I am not the one she is most afraid of, I pass my glare over to Clarke who shies away sheepishly. I looked at Olivia next and if the smug expression she was trying to hide behind her half of my sandwich said anything she was the grumbler. My daughter had always found entertainment in screwing with people, especially if it was at my expense. Anya just shrugged when I glared at her. She didn’t care what I did, but that wasn’t going to stop her from insulting me at her convenience.

I rolled my eyes. I should just accept the fact that nothing will stay a secret with these four around. “Is Jaha coming?”

“Yes, but…” Clarke said, looking a little guilty. “He will be running late.”

“Why? We couldn’t have been that far apart.” I grumbled annoyed at being delayed.

“No, that is not it. He hadn’t taken the injections yet…” My first thought was to say, ‘and what the hell did that have to do with anything.’ But luckily I caught myself realizing the issue. His ship wouldn’t let him leave unless he went through the injections. I nodded realizing what I asked him to do without thinking much of it. I should have said he could just call in. But what is done is done, I would like to think he would thank me for it later. But I’m certain if he doesn’t throw a swing at me then I’m in pretty good shape. 

It was another hour and I was caught up on everyone's activities. Clarke’s were of particular interest to me, apparently while I was out of contact Clarke has been talking with representative nations around the world about various different things. In particular, she was given a list of military contacts from about fifty nations that wanted to meet with me personally. She even handed out a list of raw materials we needed to gather to keep our factories running. It was a long list and they were highly suspicious of what the materials were being used for. Clarke seemed to have forced me into meeting with all these nations and to give them a speech about exactly what Star Force is and our goals. 

I should have been mad but I was the one who went radio silent. She was also right that I need to get the world's unapproving cooperation if Star Force was going to be a long term solution. I was certain that meeting would be terrible, I doubted I’d make it through the whole meeting without being shot. 

When Jaha came strolling in, I was shocked at how rough he looked. Maybe this is what everyone looked like after having their insides rearranged. I was certain that this was not what the man considered a good first impression. The dark blue button up that he must have been wearing previously was torn in many places the skin underneath was oozing blood at a shocking rate. He must have just woken up from his self-induced nightmare. 

I stood to greet him as if he were an old friend. “Thelonious, it is good to finally see your face. How was your trip?”

He smiled but with only half his face as he took my hand. A bit of blood trickled out of the side of his mouth that didn’t seem to be able to move. “There are not many trips I wouldn’t consider taking again, Heda. That is most certainly one of them.” He said, though the slight lisp made it hard to understand. 

“I can assure the feeling is mutual. Let me introduce you to everyone.” I gestured to each of the women in turn. “Admiral Raven Reyes, though I’m sure you are already acquainted, Clarke Griffin, she does our international affairs, Anya Woods, my military advisor, and Olivia Woods, my daughter. Everyone, this is Captain Thelonious Jaha. He has been a large help in organizing the fleet.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you all, thank you for inviting me.” Despite his obvious discomfit, the man made an excellent effort in pretending everything was normal. It made me wonder what he did before the ships ruined his life. The man was a born diplomat, Star Force would have easily fallen apart without his support. I should consider giving him a promotion. I gestured him to where I was previously sitting, he looked like he may pass out if he didn’t sit down immediately. 

“Now that you're all here let me say things plainly. I considered today a failure. At least on my behalf,” They all became significantly down trodden at that remark but I didn't care, the truth needs to be out there. “I believe strongly that nothing Earth has will be enough to stop the Macros from marching their way through South America and beyond. I would guess by now they are thinking about dropping nukes on their coming forces I’m sure that would be at least mildly effective but at the cost of a whole continent. That is not acceptable.”

I pulled up a few of the video screens of soldiers firing on some of the hundred foot tall monsters. The sounds of battle filled my bridge, as soldiers fired at the giant machines. “Conventional weaponry is useless against these monsters. It's like bringing a stick to a gunfight. It just doesn’t work. Their armor plating is too thick. That's not even talking about their own personal weaponry.” I fast forwarded to a clip of a squad getting stuck under one of the large machines. It was taller than most buildings at least one hundred feet tall, it looked like one of those things in one of those star movies, but without a head and shaped more like a gigantic spider with a giant cannon on its back. Six anti-personnel cannons fired at the squad, leaving smoking corpses at best in its wake. 

I heard Clarke making a gagging sound as the carnage continued to be displayed across the screen. I immediately turned off the screens. She was looking a little green in the face but overall not too bad. Everyone looked a little green except for Anya and Jaha. 

Raven asked the first question “But what can we do about it? All we have are ships. You saw what happened to the Argentinian Air Force, the Macros shot them out of the sky. Are ships did slightly better but its still suicide. I have literally know idea how the engines even work so it's not like I could build better ones. The ships are so cagey with information that it's almost pointless to ask… ”

I cut her off. I knew where she was heading and I made the same conclusion. “I know I think the ships are exactly where they belong. In space being fed raw materials to duplicate their factory units. I won't sacrifice our ships for a ground defense, they are worth too much.”

“You want cheap and effective.” Anya hummed in understanding. “You want us… ground pounders, you want to make an army.”

“I don’t think there is an armed force in the world that would be able to combat these monsters.” Jaha said, looking a little better than he had a few minutes before. The nanites doing their job sewing his face back together. “Even if every soldier carried around RPGs and Mortars, they would be sitting ducks. The moment they fired, maybe even before, they would be destroyed by the laser cannons.”

“Agreed.” I nodded

“I doubt the world military's would accept your help in this matter anyway, Heda.” Anya said bluntly. “They would be far more likely to want you dead than fight alongside their troops, especially the Americans.”

“More likely they would capture you for genetic experiments.” Jaha said, nonplussed by the whole situation. Everyone else looked at him with wide eyes and he looked back at them with raised eyebrows. He seemed to realize we were all either confused or ready to kill him. “I worked with the CIA for many years, I am well aware of what happened to the tribes that made up the coalition. It was very unfortunate, so many assets were lost, billions of taxpayer dollars wasted.”

It was disturbing hearing Jaha talk so casually about the destruction of my people. This was the first time the man mentioned anything about his past and I really didn’t want to waste the opportunity to question him on it. “What are you talking about?”

“You do not know?” He asked shocked, when I just glared at him he explained. “I supposed not. Dr. Franko wanted to create the next stage in human evolution. People who were genetically superior, who never grew old, never became sick. Obviously the government became interested when she showed some progress, when she tested the serum on children even greater effects were shown. They were stronger, faster, smarter, they healed incredibly quickly and their blood turned black.”

I saw Anya about to pounce on him but I stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder. “Let him finish.” I whispered in Trigedasleng.

Once Anya settled he continued. “Obviously the American people wouldn’t stand for such research so she was shipped overseas. To create super soldiers for the United States Government, obviously that didn’t pan out. The reports are rather thin after that as I recall, Becca disappeared for a few months and when she came back it was like she was a completely different person with different goals. She stopped working on the ‘Heda Project’ and turned to something else. The CIA wanted to salvage the project but ultimately failed as her research was burned and she was found dead with all test subjects scattered to the wind. In their haste they ruined what could have been a cure for thousands of ailments.”

“That’s just wrong.” Clarke glared at him. “How could you allow her to do that? She killed children.”

“It was for the greater good. What’s a few lives when you may have just created your own fountain of youth. Look at the Commander, a woman almost forty, who lived in a radioactive waste land for the first half of her life. She should be dead, not looking like a twenty year old. If that is not a testament to progress I don’t know what is.” Jaha said. Even if he wasn’t involved he surely did believe in Bekka’s work. “Dr. Franko may have just been the most brilliant scientist of this era and her research could have saved the planet.”

“It was still disgusting.” Clarke said looking at Raven who was tapping at her tablet. Obviously not wanting to be involved with this argument in the slightest.

“How do we know you're telling the truth?” Anya scowled. 

“You don’t, but I have no reason to lie, for the moment.” Jaha did have a point; he didn’t have a reason to lie, for the moment. And the fact that he admitted he would lie if the situation benefited him only made me respect the man more. At least he knew who he was, didn’t mean I trusted him, but he hasn’t given me a reason to doubt him outside of his connections to the American Government. But he didn’t look like a killer, he looked more like a pencil pusher.

“Do not worry,” He said, shifting a bit uncomfortably, seeing that half the room wanted to kill him. And the other half seemed indifferent. “I am loyal to Star Force. I believe having an independent outfit that has the world's best interest in mind rather than a specific country is for the best. Anyone else I think would have screwed us all in an attempt to save their own hides.

“I still have my connections inside the CIA, to say they are not happy that you are alive would be an understatement. I wouldn’t be surprised if there haven't been a few kill/capture orders put out on you by some ‘extremist,’ as I am certain they will be called when they inevitably fail. The only one who knows I am alive is my son. As far as the CIA is concerned I am MIA”

I nodded in understanding. “But you could go back now?” I asked

“I could…” He hummed. “And they would attempt to seize my ship and realize they have to kill me to do it. I’m not willing to take that chance.”

The others in the room looked less impressed. But I wasn’t concerned about Thelonious, everyone in Star Force had a past of some sort. It is the reason they survived the ships trials in the first place, because they were crazy, paranoid, damn lucky, or some unfortunate combination of the three. Jaha just happened to be a little more well connected and well informed than most. Despite his uncomfortable information that the United States was Bekka’s benefactor was just another clue in the mystery that is BeKKa. 

Anya didn’t look like she was going to let this go, so I said something “We are Star Force, everyone here has suspicious things in their past. All that matters is that we defeat the current threat. You will let me know if you hear about any ‘extremist’?”

“Of course Heda, I wouldn’t betray you.” I felt like that loyalty was only ‘for the moment’, but I could live with that, I knew Anya and Olivia would keep a close eye on him. Jaha was a survivor as long as I was his best option for staying alive I figured he would be loyal enough. 

“I think we lost track of what was important.” I said, bring the conversation back around to the point of this meeting. Raven perked up now that the conversation was getting back to something she would have to pick sides for.

“The ship's lasers,” Raven says. “I’ve been doing some calculations why you all were whining about who fucked who. If the factories could provide a replica a tenth of the size of a ship's laser’s that would be just about portable. Obviously there would need to be some adjustments to make a trigger system. But everything else could be made into a backpack sort of thing containing the power supply, cooling system, probably some…” she trailed off mumbling about the various pieces she would have to build.

“How much would that weigh?” I asked.

“At least seventy kilograms, most likely more, especially if we really want them to pack a punch, on the biggest Macros.” Raven huffed crossing her arms in deep thought. “A seventy-ish kilogram set up should be fine for some of the smallest creepy crawl machines with the clippers and drilling equipment.”

“Special forces units might be able to carry that but I doubt a recruit could.” Anya said, running fingers through her hair. 

“One hundred and fifty pounds minimum is a lot of weight to haul through hot, wet, jungle.” Jaha said, concerned though interested in where this was going. Clarke hasn’t said anything yet, just tapping at her tablet in deep thought. “I doubt any troop could do that for hours if not days.”

“What are you thinking about Clarke?” I asked worried about her scrunched eyebrows. 

“With the nanite injections you could easily carry five times that amount and still move faster than an Olympic sprinter.” Clarkes blue eyes glared into me. “You want to create an army of nanitized soldiers.”

“Exactly.” I said, a smirk reaching my face for the first time in days. “We would have to test it out first. I would expect any nation would be willing to subject their citizens to irreversible body modification without a damn good reason.”

Raven was now typing at her tablet in haste. “How many do you want in the first batch?”

“As many as possible,” Jaha said, “Even if you don’t use the first thousand or so for a nanitized soldier, you can exchange them for things.”

I raised an eyebrow at him in curiosity. “What sorts of things?”

“Well anything your heart could possibly desire…” I saw it in his eyes, he wanted to. He wanted to sell weapons to every government in the world. Weapons we knew probably wouldn’t even work, but were better than anything they have ever seen. Was that what this was coming to? Did I even have a choice? To name my price and watch the world bear it. As I do as I damn well please and kill the big bad machines at my own leisure. 

I summoned a chair, and crossed my fingers together steepling my index fingers and thumbs together to create a seat for my face so that I could have a minute to think. What was there to think about? I could justify it anyway I wanted but I was still going to be buying special privileges. Hell giving them something in return was probably one of the nicer options, because I really didn’t have to negotiate at all. 

“We better make a list.” I sighed, Maybe we should just change our name to Pirate Force.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has changed so much from what I originally planned. I was going to follow the books hard core with the plot but now I have so many plans for farther down the line that it has totally change everything. I never planned on focusing on anyone's past it was just going to be vague then 'space stuff'. 
> 
> But then chapter 6 happened and I was like hey... secret side plot anyone. This story was always going to be long but now it has gotten monstrous and I am so excited I could burst. I keep having to delete things and telling myself 'NO... it will ruin the surprise its too soon.' I am terrible at keeping secrets, by the way. But this story is totally going to be completed even if I skip a week here and there, I pinky promise, and I'm super serious about my pinky promises. 
> 
> Do expect the next two chapters to be a bit, not a week, but a bit late as well I wrote then longer ago and they need some serious work. But after that we should be good to go. Till the end of this part, dare I say. I dare.
> 
> Thank you all again, to everyone who opens this story and gives it a chance it truly is the best feeling.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry... That's all I got... 
> 
> I don't really have an excuse other than self depreciating non-sense. Anyway its here now, hope you all enjoy.

This has to be in the top ten worst days of my life. 

For one, this scratchy uniform that Clarke forced me to wear, for this stupid meeting. Apparently even pirates need uniforms, what sort of nonsense is that? Pirates in uniform… Where’s my parrot? Stupid Clarke. 

We look like stormtroopers with the stupid little caps and the black jackets, not the cool ones with their blasters and terrible aim. We’re like the ones with the resting bitch faces that you thought were dead but five minutes later ‘Whoop’ there they are, the bastards. 

The only saving grace was the red trims and buttons which most certainly made the whole look somehow even more evil. I thought we were supposed to be convincing these people to give us money, not take their first born child.

Why did I even come? Why was I 'ordered' to come? Stupid, sexy, blonde Generals… Where does she get off ordering me around? I let her on my ship one time and now she thinks she can boss me around. Get your own spaceship you vamp. I could have been working on the moon base with Jasper and Monty rather than sitting here getting glared at by the red shirts. Maybe they can take me with them before they inevitably get turned to ash by one of my rifles.

I took a little trip to MIT, the losers, and picked up the boys. Monty and Jasper were ecstatic once they realised they weren’t going to die a slow and painful death, when I snatched them up with my crane arm. There was nothing like watching a few thousand nerds run in terror while tossing crates of orange Caltech banners out the cargo bay. That will teach those nerds. 

I filled Jasper and Monty in on the whole situation and even on the side project I was setting up but hadn’t had time to manage properly. The worst part about it was that they told me not to worry about it and ran off with all my designs. I mean… it would be easy enough for me to check on their progress with a few taps on my tablet but still… What sort of minions don’t worship the very ground their liege pirate walks on? Worst minions ever. But at least I knew they could keep a secret. I really didn’t want anyone to know what I was up to till everything was complete. Luckily no one cared what was happening in space outside of between Earth and Venus. Space was a big place, with lots of places to hide a factory or five… but who's counting. Jupiter's rings in particular was a good place to hide things you didn’t want people seeing.

Either way the project was out of my hands for the moment, let's just hope the boys don’t screw the pooch while setting up the auto factory. But with a forty plus light minute delay mistakes were likely. Hopefully I can sneak them a ship one of these days, just a small one. Two hour production time tops, nothing crazy, just the necessities till they can make something better. 

“Don’t you even think about getting yourself shot?" Clarke whispered in my ear, interrupting my chain of thought. She grabbed my arm and pinched the delicate skin on the inside none too gently. How she made it hurt despite the nanites flowing through my system defies logic, it defies science, it defies science fiction, it was just plain wrong.

Apparently I had the look of someone ready to bail, or kill someone, and not only Clarke but the security people looked a bit on edge. They had their AK-47’s at the ready and pointing vaguely in my direction. Though a few still had their weapons on Lexa, probably hoping for their weapons to miss fire and take her out. I don’t blame them. I’d take a pot shot at the woman if I could. Hopefully winging Anya in the process, it would be a glorious way to go. 

"I doubt their ballistic weaponry would kill me." I mumbled back, not convinced that I couldn’t make it out of here mostly intact… probably. My ship would come get me if it really thought its master was in danger. Taking a deep breath I attempted to look more relaxed, and not stare desperately at the guarded exit. 

"You don't know that." Clarke whispered back, fury dripping into her tone. "Plus even if you do survive several hundred rounds to the face I doubt that would impress anyone during this negotiation. At least not yet…" Yet? My eyes bulged out at the implied statement. I just hope she wasn’t planning on shooting me. Just because it probably wouldn’t kill me, doesn’t mean pushing brass or steel or whatever out of my face would be fun. Didn’t doctors take an oath to not cause undue harm. Did I deserve due harm…? Did anyone…? Yes, Stupid, cocky, blonde… 

“Problem, Reyes?” Anya smirked at me, obviously amused that she knew something I didn’t. That made me even more nervous, I was definitely going to get shot, again. Stupid, sexy, musclar, blondes and their stupid, sexy, stupid… stupid faces, in ridiculously sexy… uniforms… I think I understand why Clarke was so insistent on Star Force having a dress uniform. My eyes wandered down her toned form without my permission, and by the look in Anya’s expression she noticed and was pleased. Stupid, suductive, scary stormtrooping ass… speaking of her ass… “Heda, I think Admiral Reyes is experiencing a panic attack. It may be wise for me to escort her back to her ship.”

‘I’m free…’ For a few moments I was overcome with relief. Anya had hoisted me from my chair and was half carrying, half dragging me towards the door by my arm. I was going to get out of this meeting with all my limbs and organs where they were when I got here. And if I was very lucky I was going to be treated with the far more enjoyable experience of an angry blonde on my ship. Maybe this time I’ll use those snake arms for… well… for things, don’t you worry about that. 

But before even the useless honor guard armed with the best weaponry mankind could create till this point could react, a voice projected directly into her mind. It was calm in a way that only those who have mastered the art of being truly menacing could possibly produce. “Sit down… Now.”

Both Anya’s and my head snapped in the direction of the speaker. Lexa hadn’t moved since she sat down in her chosen seat. She was in a similar uniform that was similar to ours except hers was all black and instead of the jacket, she wore the same cloak that I have seen her in since this had all started. She hadn’t really explained what it was other than saying ‘it is what the Commander has always worn’ and I didn’t really question it past that. Lexa could be really obtuse when she wanted to be and learning anything about her and Anya’s past was like peeling a steel onion. The saddest, most child abuse riddled, emotionally distrubing onion of all time. 

Steely green eyes, glared at us promising pain from a special sort of hell. A shudder of fear trembled down my spine at the way Lexa looked. I didn’t know what was going on in her head but ever since the Macros dropped on South America… no… every since the Nanos came down in their ships, she had been in a mood. An understandable shitty mood, that anyone in her position would have been in. She lost her son, a dozen of our ships were shot down when she ordered them to destroy the Macro ground forces. 

I got it, she was in command, she made the ultimate decisions. I decided to trust her, a lot of people trust her, and she felt like she failed us. She felt like she was failing the whole world, even when I tried to bring it up to her she shut me out. Not really surprising because we are not particularly close, but still. 

She didn’t have to bear the weight of the world on her own. Clarke, Anya and I are all here for her but she was just so… stoic. It was annoying, but also incredibly intimidating. Anya didn’t seem all that concerned, so I guess it was normal. Though how anything about this whole situation could possibly be normal was beyond me. I guess I would just have to wait to save her when she inevitably almost gets herself killed, then she’ll listen.

We/I discovered over the past few days that the nanites release small radio transmissions, most likely to communicate amongst themselves. That led to me discovering we could talk to them, sort of…

After a little backwards talk with the HMS, it reveleved that the nanites could be used to communicate with our ships and through them to other ships and their commanders if the other individual was indeed nanitized. That I mostly already knew but after a bit more questioning on why we couldn’t communicate directly she said, more or less, that it was because the nantites currently in our system were not designed for such a purpose. 

Well to me that was an easy fix. I asked the HMS to inject me with nanites that did have the capability to communicate with other nanites of a similar type. I quickly realised that it wouldn’t work until at least one other person didn’t get the extra injection, which totally didn’t hurt… well at least not as bad as the first ones. So once Lexa and Anya agreed to the shot we could communicate if we were within a mile of each other without our ships involvement. It was a mighty handy skill that I am beginning to regret discovering. 

Sulking back to my seat, the last hope of any escape now vanquished. The awkward silence as Lexa began tapping her fingers in impatientes. Clarke looked confused at what just happened, being the only one among us not nanitized, she wasn’t privy to the conversation. She didn’t believe being nanitized was worth the pain involved during the process, for the moment, considering that she had no intention of going into combat. 

Plus, she claimed that the four of us didn’t move like normal people anymore. She said that it was as if gravity was never an issue, as if the weight of the world was negligible, if only that were true. She said having one person who moved in a more natural way, would make the negotiations go more smoothly. 

Olivia was the only one not sitting, we were allowed to bring one guard with us and she gladly volunteered, not that we needed it. But it was nice to know if… when shit hit the fan Clarke would be protected. 

She was geared out in the new combat load I designed, she was wearing what I thought of as a light kit. Weighing in at about ninety kilograms, for a nanitzied soldier it would be a piece of cake to carry that if watching Lexa, Anya and Olivia sprint down the beach at close to fifty clicks while hauling them was any indication. It consisted of a black skin tight suit made of the new nano cloth. The ‘cloth’ was a thin fabric made of adjustable polymers.

It was effectively bulletproof and shock absorbent, I wouldn’t suggest jumping on a grenade, despite the suit's ability to handle it. You will still be sent flying. Though against laser fire I am certain it would be next to useless, but it was better than anything else available. Even against the relatively weak burst of the laser rifles could burn a hole into them after a thirty second burst. I already had numerous ideas for modifications for a new better light kit… and many many more. But those were for later if we survived the current problem, and after Commander Bitchy’s approval. 

Lexa didn’t complain about any modifications I suggested the fleet make to their vessels. But the moment ground forces were suggested she had all the complaints in the world. There is nothing like having a back seat driver literally in your head while you're trying to program. I wanted to rip every nanite out of my body just to get her to shut up. But if riding my ass distracted her from the future wasteland known as South America than I supposed I could live with it. 

I doubted the laser projector and power pack will pack enough of a punch to burn through the larger Macros hulls but the smaller, at least comparatively smaller, submarine sized Macros rifles should be able to burn through. 

It will take me more time and, ever so begrudgingly for me to admit, manpower. With the quantity of weapons needed to be manufactured the two hundred odd factories were not enough. Especially when I blatantly refused to use the other three hundred factories under our control to do anything but make other factories provided they can procure the required materials which was a staggering in both number and rarity. I’d get the boys on it, whenever they were done designing my base. 

Finally after another five minutes of ominous silence, the door opened up and at least fifty diplomats, military personnel and their respective aids, and more guards were ushered into the room, the most important people sat down sitting but most standing with notepads and other note taking devices. I recognized two people out of all of them Marcus… and the newly promoted Brigadier General Charles Pike, one of the biggest assholes I have ever met and by the look on his face, he recognized me. His whole face contorted in a mixture of rage, and disgust as he looked us over.

“Private Reyes, why am I not surprised you fell into this group of trash? Never took you for a terrorist though.” I glared at him, but said nothing. I could tell he was trying to bait me; he knew my new rank, there was no way that he walked in this room without sitting through a million boring meetings telling him everything about all of us. 

“I didn’t know that the United States employed such swine.” Clarke chastised him. The man’s ears turned beat red and he looked like he was going to say something else but Marcus stepped in.

“Apologies for my colleague, Miss Griffin, Admiral Reyes… tensions have been understandably high. And many among us,” He spent a pointed glare at Pike. “are skeptical of Star Forces ability to be useful.”

“Well lets hope we can put some of those opinions to rest.” Clarke said. All fifteen nations of the United Nations security council were represented; Viet Nam, Tunisia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Niger, Estonia, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, South Africa, Germany, China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and easily the largest contingent and the most openly hostile being the United States, or rather Pike. 

Clarke insisted she do most of the talking because Lexa and Anya are too scary, and I’m too condescending, which we all know is bullshit but whatever. It’s not condescending when you really are smarter than everyone in the room. Clarke was the only one who stood to greet them. “Thank you all for coming, I know you essentially had no choice, but the sentiment still stands.” Giving one of her token smiles and a wink that had a few members of the group chuckling possibly out of fear, Marcus being one of them, while the others looked a mixture of mithed and pissed. “My name is Dr. Clarke Griffin, to my right is Admiral Raven Reyes, on the far end is General Anya kom Trikru, and finally our leader Heda Lexa kom Trikru.”

The group grew silent when they heard Lexa and Anya’s names/titles, a few of the military personnel's eyes nearly bugged out of their heads.

Various languages were heard cursing and/or possibly confirming for whoever was listening through their earpieces. If it was even possible General Pike became even more angry than he was before. He was sitting now, thankfully, but by the look on the other American delegates they looked absolutely terrified of the man. 

Olivia seemed impatient with the chit-chatting delegates and deactivated the safety on the laser rifle. The only sound it made was a little click as the mini fusion reactor, more or less, charged. The security council guards immediately reacted when they heard the sound and pointed their guns at the armed teen. Maybe it wasn’t the guards we should be worried about having a fidgety trigger finger. If we weren’t all blinded, covered in third degree burns, dead, or some horrible combination of the three by the end of this meeting it would be a miracle. The room got silent as the stand off took place, Olivia looked completely relaxed and unconcerned by the ten soldiers pointing weapons at her. I wonder if it is just a family trait not to give a shit when your life is threatened or something those three crazy women developed overtime. 

“Mademoiselle,” Lexa said, to a blonde haired lieutenant holding a notepad with wide frightened eyes at the tension in the room. Her attention turned from the looming fire fight to Lexa’s, with hesitation. She was wearing a french army dress uniform and her hazel-green eyes went wide when addressed. She was already stiff and at attention before but now that essentially the whole room was looking at the poor girl she looked like she regretted her very existence, or at least where she happened to have stood. “Quel est votre nom?”

“Lieutenant Niylah Dubois, Heda. How can I help you?” Her accent was thick but still understandable. Clarke didn’t look pleased at all with Lexa’s attention to the petite, blonde, french girl. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the table, shooting glares at Lexa. 

“What do you do?” She asked.

The Lieutenant looked at the French General who was sitting at the table and he nodded, giving her permission. “I’m a… Quartermaster Madame.”

“What does that mean?” Lexa asked curiously, though I suspected she already knew. I also suspected Clarke already knew that she already knew. My sister was the jealous type through and through, and I was certain she was thinking about half a dozen ways to murder that poor girl. The Lieutenant looked back at the General who nodded his head again. 

“I find things… Commander…” She said awkwardly, glazing between Clarke and Lexa. Lieutenant Dubois wasn’t stupid she knew when she was an immienat danger and it wasn’t from the strange gun in the corner. “The rare items, Dr. Griffin requested, whatever you want. I have a…sense… for that sort of thing. I am simply here to relay your demands to my superiors as is deemed fit.” The blush she had slowly creeped up her cheeks.

“We do need a lot of stuff… and good people at Star Force.” Lexa smirked, raising a curious eyebrow as she not so subtly checked the poor girl out. Niylah seemed to have noticed, blushing deeper at the attention. I was certain Lexa wasn’t drunk, which made it even more certain that one of those women would not be making it out of this meeting unharmed. Not being drunk was one of the several stipulations, Clarke had for this meeting, considering this whole pirate thing it was probably a pretty damn good one, except for the fact that it applied to me as well. I didn’t even want to be here. 

Clarke fake coughed, obviously pissed by the whole display. “Could you please… focus,” It was not a request. “Olivia, please hand out the nanite papers, before someone gets shot.”

Olivia holistered the laser rifle by the hooks on the powerpack shutting off the power, causing the surrounding guards to become even more wary than they should have been when the unknown weapon was activated.

She pulled out a stack of nanite papers from one of the several hidden pockets of the uniform and started handing them out. Delegates, Generals and security personnel alike looked wearily at the apparently flimsy paper that was thrust into arms and chest alike. 

“What is this?” General Pike snipped holding the fabric away from him with minimal contact as if it would kill him. 

“That is a tablet made of nanites, it is what all the technology of our ships, the nano ships, are based on. Everything from our clothing, to our weaponry,” Clarke gestured, towards Olivia who was still moving around the room. “is made using nanite technology. If you flick your wrist it will flatten out into a sheet or you can fold it into a phone size, or pretty much any shape you prefer. Those are yours to keep. I won’t bore you by making sure we are all on the same page because I have no doubt you all know more than we do.”

I pulled out mine and demonstrated watching the nanites straighten into a flat sheet. Most of them flicked their sheets, some out of curiosity, others waited to see if they would explode until eventually they opened them too. As soon as everyone of importance opened their sheet, I pushed a few buttons on mine and they all switched to the presentation fees. A half-dozen different degrees, and here I am a glorified push button remote, and possible cannon-fodder. I seriously needed to reevaluate my life's choices. 

Video after video of men and women dying, being stomped on, being burned down to their boots, towns and cities completely abandoned or burned to the ground. Even a video of some of our star fleet vessels being shot down by some of those insane anti-aircraft missiles. The Macros just steam rolled over everything and everyone we have thrown at it. 

“These are the most recent attempts by all of us at trying to stop the Macros. I would say almost every attempt has been ineffective.” Clarke said. “Our collective weapons are either useless or not designed for this purpose. That's why we came up with something new.”

She gestured to Olivia to come over. “This is our new light-kit body armour and laser rifle, made solely from nanotech. The rifle is based on the ship's lasers at a fraction of the scale. The backpack is a nuclear generator, if this thing detonated everything within a square mile would be completely flattened.”

Everyone in the room looked sick at the thought that the little backpack could destroy them before they could even blink. Not that the reactor would explode just on a whim, it was way too complex for that, not that they knew that. I clicked their screens too a video of me firing the thing, easily one of the best moments of my life floating in space firing at space junk and maybe a spy satellite if the looks on the Russians faces had anything to say about it. 

“This suit should increase the combat effectiveness of your troops, but we think we can do even better. In fact we know we can.” I skipped to my favorite video. Thankfully most of the generals and delegates looked too pissed or scared to ask questions. So the room was mostly quiet except for the aids speaking into headsets. I suppose I could hack into the feeds and listen in, but I doubted I could do it without somebody taking notice. 

As I watched the I never knew how much the nanites really did because I hadn’t thought about it outside of what was necessary to function. But it was a real shocker when you watched Clarke run, which wasn’t saying much, because I’ve seen her run maybe a dozen times ever, then you watch me run. After my… injury they told me I may never walk on my own again. Now I’m running down the street at forty klicks without breaking a sweat, fuck you doctor what-his-face.

The crowd was impressed, at least I think, as they watched Lexa bench one hundred and eighty-five kilograms, which should definitely be impossible, considering she had to be max sixty kilograms nanites or not. It was pretty amusing seeing the slack jawed faces of the supposedly intimidating guards as they watched the comparatively diminutive woman totally show them up. Especially when Anya and Lexa started to spar resulting in Anya being thrown into the surf after skipping twice over the waves like a stone. 

I looked over at Anya and she looked pissed. The tips of her ears were red either in rage or embarrassment after watching herself be thrown like a toddler. Clarke was smirking too, not regretting even slightly the video that was being played. I was going to have to make a backlog of embarrassing moments. I made a mental note and sent it to my tablet on HMS.

“How do we know this is real?” Marcus said, also amused by the normally serious womens clear embarrassment. “Or rather how do we know this isn’t some sort of ploy just to get funds.”

“That's simple Mr. Kane. Nanites create a thin barrier under the skin. Like a sheet of flexible metal skeleton. Lieutenant Dubois was it?” Clarke asked, smirking a little too brightly as she closed on the women. “Could I see your side-arm please?”

“Umm… Ma’am?” She asked, eyes going wide and taking a step back smacking straight into the wall. 

“Just give it to her Dubois,” The French general said. The Lieutenant's mouth was slacked jawed as she glanced between the general and Clarke. After a moment and no one seeming to have changed their minds, she quickly upholstered her pistol and handed it to Clarke. 

“What do you plan to do with it Ma’am?” Clarke just smirked, I had a sinking suspicion something terrible was going to happen to me. Something bad always happened when my sister had that smirk on her face, that's how the neighbor man died. Clarke had the same look she always got when she was getting revenge. Maybe she should switch careers from being an emergency medical specialist and become a physical therapist instead. Some of them have to be sadistic right?

But Clarke didn’t approach me; she stopped in front of Lexa. 

“Shoot my Commander in the face.” Three pops went off in quick succession, and Lexa’s head snapped back at the impact of the bullets. Her body slumping down in the chair. Even I gasped in shock at the carnage done to Lexa’s face, or rather the lack of carnage that didn’t happen to my own. 

I knew that there was, more or less, a thin layer of nanites directly under the skin. But it was completely different when being faced with the reality of your new found reality. Combined with the Commanders weird black blood it was like looking at a real life terminator leaking oil. Clarke being left handed may have done her a favor or made it worse, I’m not sure. I definitely wasn’t about to look at the ugly mug for the next week, we were going to have to go all Phantom of the Opera on her face or risk everyone puking at the sight of her.

Guns of the guards went up and everyone was on edge except for Anya and I. “Dr. Griffin, put the gun down now.” Someone shouted. Clarke had her hands up with her finger off the trigger. Dubois snatched it from her and pointed it at her. 

“Pulse?” Clarke asked, no one in particular. Anya moved over and put two fingers on Lexa's throat and hummed approvalling. 

“She’s fine, but is probably concussed.” Anya rolled her eyes and flicked one of Lexa’s still attached ears. “Was shooting her three times strictly necessary?” 

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” I muttered, knowing Clarke could be mean when she was jealous. Is getting shot in the face, a proper punishment for leering at a girl half your age when you have been unknowingly claimed…? Who was I to say, especially when I wasn’t the one being shot. 

Did I mention how happy I am for not being shot?

“Dr. Griffin.” Pike shouted, slamming his palms on the desk. “I don’t care if your superior is a dirty terrorist robot. You cannot execute them without orders.”

“Who said she didn’t have orders?” Lexa spat a mixture of blood, puss and dead nanites. The right half of her face didn’t move, so her speech was slurred. “And that was hardly an execution, more like a love tap.”

“You good, Heda?” Anya asked, as Lexa moved/reconnected/ her jaw back in place from where it was hanging with a loud pop that made my spine tingle. 

“Fine… Ladies and Gentlemen I apologize for the dramatic display, but we felt it was a… necessary display. As you can see despite my outward appearance being what I can only imagine is horrifying, I am perfectly fine.” She attempted to smile but failed miserably making the whole room grimace and some who weren’t already green, turned so. Kane looked like he was about to hurl as Lexa wiped blood away from her face and onto the table like it would clear up her visibility. She didn’t have an eye there anymore so I don’t know what she was expecting to happen. Even I got a little queasy when she ripped a few of the bullet fragments from her mangled face. Lexa glared at the Lieutenant who had her mouth covered and was very green. “Frangible bullets? Are you serious?”

The Lieutenant looked away and swallowed in the way one did when they were swallowing their own vomit, before she spoke. “I always use them when I plan to be inside. I am not a very good shot.”

Anya smirked, “Smart girl. We should hire her.” That set the girl even more on edge backing away as she glanced between an impossibly more irritated Clarke and the amused Anya. She even looked at her own General who gave nothing away as he scratched his beard deep in thought. 

“That would be… Horrifying” Lexa said the blood was slowing at this point but still prominent. “We could never issue her a laser rifle she would end up shooting us in the ass.”

“We could put her in front,” Anya compromised. Lieutenant Dubois looked absolutely terrified, her general nodded as if he thought it was a wonderful idea. Poor girl… she was suddenly on a lot of the wrong peoples shitless. 

I flipped all the tablets in the room to the items screen that had the list of materials we needed in the order of most importance. The top being radioactives and rare metals. 

The delegate from Belgium wearing a very expensive looking pant suit, spoke up. Either ignoring or not caring about the whole display and moved on to something she was more interested in. “What do you need all of these materials for?”

“Well that's simple Miss Claes. We want to build more of these light suits.” Clarke gestured to Olivia to step forward, which set the already testy UN even more on edge. “But normal soldiers are not going to be enough. We need to create a new type of soldier, a super soldier.”

Clarke gestured to Lexa who was still trying to pull microscopic metal slivers out of her face as the nanites did their work. “We are requesting for every military in the world to provide Star Force with able bodied men and women who want to become part of the greatest military force this world has ever seen.” Clarke finished to the shock of the whole room. 

“Join STAR FORCE…” General Pike shouted, slamming his first on the table. “You have no right to demand we hand over our troops to your shit outfit. Just for you to turn around and create super freaking monsters, are you bitches insane.”

“SHIT OUTFIT” I shouted back, Pike has gotten on my last nerve. He had been grumbling this whole time and I had enough. “Us ‘insane bitches’ saved your fucking ass, and you know it. You misogynistic, pig headed, useless, piece of…” 

“Reyes,” Lexa said, directly into my mind. I growled at her, how dare she interrupt my rant. Doesn’t she know what a useless bigot that man is. He deserved to be chewed the hell out and much more. I’d go over there and beat his ass. “I got this.”

For the first time since the meeting started Lexa looked to be taking it seriously, or at least like it was something worth her attention. Probably more like she wanted to leave because he face itches like hell. A calm sort of malavance, settled over her as she stood. Her coat tails flapped in the non-existent wind as she walked behind the delegates. 

“Listen up…” She spoke low, slow and menacing. Her face was blank of all emotion. “This isn’t another petty skirmish between nations. This isn’t like any war ever fought in the history of mankind. This is extinction.” 

She paused after the word ‘extinction’ letting the term sink in as she glared at the now terrified looking earth delegates. Apparently they weren’t expecting to be presented with such a hostile temperament from our leader. “If we lose, our species will be eradicated, if the Macros keep moving how they are…” The screens changed again, without my input, to a predictive advancement if things would keep going as they are, the whole planet was covered in red. “Earth will be a radioactive wasteland within the year if they continue to progress how they are. We don’t have time to decide what nation gets to enjoy the benefits of advanced technology first. We don’t have time for petty civilian problems. We don’t have time to fight over these ships; we will all die if we fight with each other. That only leaves one option, the only option, my option… Star Force.”

She hummed thoughtfully, scratching at her mangled face. “So don’t think of Star Force as being another band of mercenaries, pirates, inexperienced idiots or whatever you have been calling us. Think of Star Force as the only thing standing between humanity and extinction.”

Lexa looked at each of the delegates and generals, causing them to wince or quickly find something more interesting to look at then her. “As for the troops, I don’t need your best, or brightest, I don’t even need your average assholes. I would like for them to be experienced because I don’t need to train a bunch of branwadas to not shoot each other in the back.

“I’ll gladly take your troublemakers, the misfits, the soldiers you don’t know what to do with except to keep them in the field because they are just not capable of going back to being human. Star Force is made up of a bunch of people who killed to be where they are right now. They are selfish, egotistical, and above all else paranoid. We are talking about the kinds of people who sleep with guns and knives under their pillows. 

“I want people who are ready to kill or be killed. Because that is what this whole war is about.” At this point Lexa had made a full rotation of the room making every single individual in the room look like they wanted to leave, or at least die trying, except for Pike that is. He just looked pissed that she was speaking in the first place. I could respect that being on the shit end of a Lexa tantrum a few times myself. 

Did I just agree with Pike…? Eww… I need to go scrub my brain out with soap. 

“I don’t need any of you to agree… just make it happen. This isn’t a negotiation… This is me telling you what I need to defeat the machines.” Lexa nearly growled at them. I didn’t know if she was simply angry or something else. I had never seen her like this, granted I hadn’t seen her in a lot of ways. But this was different; she was commanding in a way that she hadn’t displayed before. In a way that made me actually want to follow her, instead of insult her. “I want a permanent base by the end of the week. Am I understood?”

None of them answered and Lexa leaned on to the table menacingly towards the delegates. The metal that made up the table began to squeak as the muscles in her arms flexed pushed down on it causing it to crumble under the weight. I moved back because this side of the table was so low it was bumping against my knees. The poor thing would never recover.

“Am I understood?” This time her tone was impossibly more menacing; it sent chills down my spine. 

“Yes.” Everyone said at once. I cannot say how everyone else felt but I was scared shitless even worse than when she kicked me in the back of the head. 

Pike looked furious at the others' willing acceptance of the new status quo. He was fuming so hard that he stormed out pushing the guards at the door out of his way, leaving the rest of his delegation staring wide eyed and fearful. 

“Heda Lexa,” Marcus said, seeming to recover the quickest out of all the delegates. Granted he was the most prepared considering he has met the Commander before. “I don’t believe anything you asked for is unreasonable. I will personally make sure this happens.”

“Thank you, Marcus,” With that she left, shocking the recovering guards that were guarding the door with her hasty retreat. Anya was on her heels dragging, a quite possible sobbing, Dubois after her. She smirking at me as she left in the way she did when I was definitely missing something. A moment later I heard Lexa’s voice in my mind. “You and Clarke can handle things from here.”

‘THOSE FUCKING COWARDS. I can’t believe this shit. How dare they just abandon me here, doing her god damn motherfucking job. She is just going to drink herself into a bonafide stuper, I have actual work to do…’ I screamed in my own mind. As Clarke began discussing details with the remaining delegates. I stewed making my plans, I hope those two assholes like pepper spray in the freakin’ face, because they are going to smell like it for a month. Have fun getting some now General Pepperface. Stupid, sexy, muscular, blondes, and their stupid, cocky… stupid faces… AHHHHHHHHHHHH


	13. Chapter 13

It took a week… A week for the nations of the world to consider my offer and tentatively accept. A week of continuous interviews, meetings, and questions… so many questions. I even had to give a press conference, because Jaha said it would be good, for people to hear and see that I wasn’t just a faceless, dehumanizing pirate. It's a good thing that a nanitized soldier doesn't need all that much sleep or I would have been struggling not to fall to sleep every time one of them started screaming at me. But finally we were able to move into our new base, Andros Island. 

At this point we were settled in, at least rudimentary. It was nothing more than a bunch of tents set up in some manner of organization in a recently cleared area of land. But it was nice not to have to sleep in my ship anymore and the ship captains that had braved the nanite injections agreed. It was nice to sleep out under the stars rather than among them for a change. 

The Macros still were making rapid progress destroying South America and I was starting to get antsy. Every nation in the world wanted to be represented in some way on the island in ‘support’ of Star Force. I blatantly refused to have a million people moving down here to spy on me, and do nothing else. They must have thought me to be a really stupid if I was going to let that happen. After much… arguing, I agreed to have five advisor/liaisons/spies or whatever they were calling themselves to ‘observe’ Star Force. The only real problem was that General Pike, that intolerant man had himself placed as one of Star Forces military ‘liaisons’ and he had done nothing but bitch the whole time he has been here.

I had a series of doctors from around the world flown in and Abby seemed to just show up along with the other physicians and immediately took charge. I really had no idea where she came from, but she hasn’t left and was way over ecstatic about the medical testing that came after. I don’t know what kind of doctor she thinks she is, but it is not the kind that has many patients, because her bedside manner is absolutely terrible, Becca’s was better. Yes, I know that is sad but at least she warned you when something was gonna hurt. She drained me of what felt like half of my blood for ‘study’, I don’t know what a gill is, but it doesn’t sound like you should be taking multiple units of it for blood.

Then Dr. Griffin and her cohort piled hundreds of kilos of wet sand into a pack on my back expecting me to run. The first time, there was so much weight strapped to my back that I felt my bones creak. Every hobbling stride I took I felt muscles and tendons ripping my nanites worked overtime to repair the damage. My whole body ached as I ran the hundred odd yards down and back on the beach. It took nearly triple the time for me to run as it previously did. Still it was faster than most people could run so I couldn’t complain too much.

The scientist all looked shocked when I announced that this was far too much weight as I approached them after my sprint. When they shoveled out more than half of the sand, I realized they didn’t expect me to be able to move at all. I will admit I was a bit smug after that. 

I was nice to the scientist and did everything they asked with as minimal complaint as possible. They were the ones who would determine if nanitzation would be worth putting thousands of troops through. The only time I thought they were visibly upset was when I refused to allow them to shove a thermometer up my tail pipe. But they visibly brightened when I said Anya would gladly enjoy the opportunity, it truly was a win-win.

Today, I was in a meeting with the five generals and they have been trying my patients. 

“There is no proof that having nanitized troops will make any difference to this war. I will not consign my forces to becoming…” Pike gestured towards me in disgust, “Just to provide you with an army, which you will inevitably kill for food.”

He had been saying insane things like this all week. Earlier in the week he was calling me a cyborg clone from the outer reaches of the universe and considering I’ve only left the upper atmosphere twice… I dismissed him. I should just kill him but I figured it would be a PR nightmare, despite Raven’s, not so mysterious, late night ‘Kill Pike’ calls that she regularly denies. Maybe she thinks if she says it in a ghost voice while I’m half asleep, I’ll be tricked into thinking Raven Reyes is the voice of my conscience. Wouldn’t that be terrifying?

“As much as I do see the benefits of such a… procedure.” General Takahashi sighed, not knowing how to classify having a medical diagnosis to explain having your inside rearranged by alien machines. “I agree with Pike, there is not enough evidence that this will actually work to invest that much man power to such an untested endeavor.”

“Why don’t we test it then?” General Shumaway, from China, asked. I like General Shumaway. She was a problem solver. She never complained, and even when she did she provided solutions that I readily agreed to if for no other reason than to piss off Pike. Who by being a reasonably rational person, was obviously on General Pike’s shit list. Even Anya liked her, and I wasn’t even certain she liked me most of the time.

“A test…” Jaha mused over the video screen. He had rarely attended these meetings in person seeing himself as more of a fleet person, or as Anya started calling them Skai Kru, seeing as ninety-nine percent of them haven’t left the relative safety of their ships since this has started. But as one of the only people in Star Force, who was at least minor-ly trusted by the United States, or at the very least Pike. I had required his presents, if only to temper the hot headed Generals mood. “A test sounds like an excellent idea.”

Jaha swiveled the interactive desktop I had Raven make me inside of my tent using the nanite factories. It was about the size of a pool table and we were all sitting around it. I watched as Jaha zoomed in on the Macro’s advance over South America. 

After only two weeks they have ransacked most of the southern tip of the continent. Luckily, if luck can be used to describe any part of this situation, they have been moving so quickly their front lines are sparse. Not that they need many machines to fight against our pathetic displays of force. But many of the machines were by themselves, hundreds of miles apart before another of the hundred foot monsters could be found, one of those should be our targets. “I could take a squad of twenty or so, we could cover a few hundred miles destroying a few of the separated machines as a test. We already have destroyed a few of the smaller machines with the new laser rifles but we still haven’t been much of a threat to the hundred footers. It be a suicide mission, but on the off chance it goes well…”

“I think that would be a good test.” General Reddy, from India agreed. He was a good man, with a heavy fetish for self sacrifice. “But you don’t have twenty men, and as you have said your ship captains are… cagey.”

“Indeed, only myself and Anya would be ready to go,” Raven and Olivia would be willing, and most likely wanting, but I refuse to put my daughter and our best brain in harm's way. I guess I could order Private Dubois to join, but I think she would rather die than run around in the middle of the jungle avoiding getting turned to ash by robots. Niylah wasn’t a coward by any means, she would go to the ends of the earth to find rare and elusive things. But she was not about to get her ass burnt off by some alien robots without a damn good reason. That good reason may be for some novelty Star Trek paraphernalia, but her reasons were her reasons.

“I’m certain I scrounge up a squad or two if we can’t find any volunteers.” Jaha suggested. I didn’t like the idea of him ordering a bunch of people on a suicide mission. 

The Russian General hummed in contemplation. General Alexeev, was a quiet sort, preferring to listen and occasionally comment but not really adding anything. But today he has been far more quiet than usual. 

“General Alexeev, do you have anything to add?” I asked, curious of what the man had been complementing.

“Yes,” he sighed, not looking towards me. “But you will not like it.”

I huffed in amusement and leaned my body weight on the table. I am glad all the furniture in my office has been reinforced to sustain a nanitized soldier and their increased strength/weight. It gets old fast once you fall through enough tables and chairs. “I think we all know that I do not like much, that happens in these meetings. I doubt this will offend me.”

“This may be different. I want to preface this with I was only informed this morning when the supply ship came in” He let out a long breath. Whatever it was must have been relatively bad, or he wouldn’t have casually back his seat away from me. “After Trikru's apparent destruction my government saw an opportunity. The commander at the time, who you have referred to as Bekka Pramheda, her research was quite promising. All of her research was either destroyed or missing, but that wasn’t the only thing left.”

“What are you saying?” I knew what he was hinting at but I wanted him to say it. I could feel the table grinding as I gripped it tighter. Maybe they need to upgrade the furniture again for angry nanitized soldiers. 

Instead of answering me, which was most likely wise, he slid his tablet across the table. Pretty much everyone who came onto the island was given a tablet, it was the easiest method of contacting everyone, as the moment they touched them it registered them into our local network. On the screen was Indra, Luna, Nyko and Gustus, they were older and had more scars but it was definitely them. 

I shouldn’t have been all that surprised that Anya, Costia and I, weren’t the only ones to escape. But for another government to be harboring them as… what exactly prisoners, fugitives, tests subjects, maybe… I didn’t want to know. Before I had a chance to ask any questions or possible yell he stopped me. 

“Don’t worry they are not prisoners, per say.” He said in what was supposed to be a calming voice. That per say… didn’t put me in a calm mood at all. If anything I was having a borderline panic attack. 

I spoke low and slowly trying to hold back my frustration but I had to ask. “What were they exactly?”

“Assets?” He phrased it like a question. But what he really wanted me to know was whether or not I was planning to shoot the messenger. After a moment of thought I decided not to pursue what kind of assets they were. I was certain he would give the bare minimum of an answer, would just have to ask them. 

“No, Lincoln?” I asked, causally flipping through the files not seeing anything referring to him. I didn’t read them seeing as most of it was redacted and the other part was probably half truths and lies. 

Pike was yelling at the Russian General about something, probably about harboring criminals, but I wasn’t listening. I couldn’t listen to him any longer. Not today…

General Shumaway shifted awkwardly at the name and I raised an eyebrow towards her questioningly and dared her to speak her thoughts. She must have seen I wasn’t in the mood to play games and spat it out. “The Chinese government may know of his location.”

I nodded in understanding. They were all laying their chips on the table today and I couldn’t figure out why… Well actually I had a couple of theories why. 

One: General Alexeev told me because if I found out on my own I probably would have been pissed, not that I was particularly looking. But things like this tended to be revealed at the worst of times, like when they had a beam rifle pointed at their heads, and it was practical for him to get it out of the way. General Shumway probably knew about it the whole time and was just keeping it in her back pocket till she could use it as leverage. She may have been cooperative with me up unil this point, but she’s not stupid enough to trust me blindly. But since Alexeev handed them over freely, or seemingly so, it no longer held much power over me.

Two: They conspired together to bring it up today to prove that their nations, Russia and China were far more useful as friends then as mire babysitters. 

Personally I was leaning towards option two, Pike really was an ass, but that didn’t stop the United States from taking the brunt of the financial debt when it came to setting up Star Force on Andros Island. Now with every country in the world scrounging for every cent to front the massive debt we were creating, they wanted their money back and the only way to get it was by providing Star Force with everything we needed.

Yes we could just use the factories to make everything we needed but that would take away from the production of the military equipment that we actually needed. Buildings and chairs seemed like it was of low priority compared to building thousands of millions of bodysuits, laser rifles, nanite injections, medical equipment and whatever else Raven was doing.

I feel like I’m about to witness the second coming of the Cold War, except now I’m the nuclear deterrent, or quite possible Cuba. God, I needed a drink.

Pike was pissed, if I wasn’t physically impossible I was certain steam would have been coming out of his ears. “You people have been harboring terrorists for nearly two decades, are you mad?”

They both shrugged as if it was a non-issue, which to them it probably was. “Military assets are captured all the time. Just because your government assumed they were all dead does not make it our issue. Besides from what I am told they have been a wealth of knowledge.” Shumway said, pretty much confirming for me that she was in cahoots with Alexeev. The only people who really had a problem with Trikru was the United States. 

“I can’t believe what you are suggesting, you will doom us all.” Pike suggested

“You are welcome to provide some of your own units, General Pike.” Reddy smirked. “I would like to offer a few men of my own, they are special forces and would gladly accept such a mission. I can have them here by the end of the day.”

“I would also like to provide a few troops for the test. I am sure they will be of service.” Takahashi said not seeming to really care one way or another about the conversation at hand.

“You’re all fucking insane, I’m reporting this directly to President Wallace.” Pike stormed out. I wasn’t even paying attention to him as he screamed at his men to get him to the docks. I guess he wanted to deliver his message in person… Good riddance.

“Where are they?” I asked slowly, not sure I wanted to display any particular emotion at the moment.

“Indra, Gustus, Nyko and Luna are at the port…” I didn’t listen to the rest of what he had to say. I just ran. My early attempts at staying calm went right out the window. As I knocked over anyone who didn’t get out of the way. 

‘Anya,’ I called using my internal nanites to contact her. ‘Meet me at the docks… NOW

‘I’m a little busy.’ She said back, sounding distracted.

‘Get un-busy, Your wife is alive.’ I didn’t get a response. I didn’t really expect one either. I wasn’t really thinking I was just running. I didn’t know what I was feeling, terror, rage, fear, joy… I didn’t know but my friends, my family, were alive. 

I closed on the port in ten minutes. I don’t know what idiot decided that they wanted their command tent as far away from the vast majority of people as possible because then un-nanitized people would be less likely to bother me when they realized they had to walk five miles to find me. Whoever they are is being demoted, or quite possible shot.

I whipped around the last of the construction and there they were… Gustus looked as tall as ever he had cut his hair and beard to a less wild looking length, Indra had let her hair grow out considerably to the point she could pull it back in a ponytail, Nyko was there having looked like he hadn’t cut his hair once in the past seventeen years, Luna looked like she hadn’t aged a day since she was twenty, and if Anya was to be believed I still looked like I was eighteen. 

I realized too late I was moving too fast, and tried to stop. I failed spectacularly, my forward momentum was too great for me to stop on a dime. The clumsiness that I had taken great strides to overcome over the years made an unwelcome appearance. Losing my balance I fell face first onto the packed sand with a massive thump, luckily I had the foresight to protect my face from being torn apart. Having my ship put my face back together once this week was plenty. After several embarrassing and painful bounces across the ground I finally came to a stop at someone's feet. 

“Mama… What’s wrong with that lady?” a small voice said.

“She has a disease called Tripitious. It affects the clumsy and stupid.” I heard Luna say above me. I heard her grunt in what I hoped to be pain. 

“Be nice,” Indra chastised her.

“Is it contagious?” The same voice said. “I don’t want Tripitious.”

I sighed feeling my face flush in embarrassment. I opened my eyes and rolled onto my back to face my shame. “Do you consider yourself foolish and/or clumsy?” I asked the shorter of the two girls she vaguely looked like Luna with her untamed hair and brown eyes.

“No,” She said, backing away and moving behind Luna’s leg. I’m not sure if she thought I was unconscious or dead but she surely didn’t want anything to do with me.

“Then I do believe you are immune to the disease, congratulations.” I winked at her and launched myself to my feet in a far more graceful motion than before. 

“Thank you…?” the girl muttered, blushing. Shrinking even further behind Luna. 

“She reminds me of you at this age.” Luna said laughing. “Except she knows how to run.”

“I can run.” I muttered my face growing even hotter, denying any resemblance between me and the girl.

“I can see… but you were always a slow learner, Heda.” I was immediately crushed in a giant bear hug and lifted off the ground with a grunt. It was a testament to Gustus’ strength that despite the nanites I was being crushed to death.

“Whew… what have you been eating kid. I've picked up cars that weighed less than you.” Gustus grunted dropping unceremoniously. 

“A one time diet of steel, lead, iron and a bit of zinc for flavor.” I had no idea exactly what the nanites were made of but the occasional feeling like I've been chewing on tin foil was an interesting new sensation. And now that I think of it, I don’t really know what tin foil is made from either… Aluminium?

“That sounds disgusting,” Luna said.

“And extremely dangerous, what the hell is going on?” Nyko said. 

“That is a super long explanation. Let's catch up first starting with the rugrats.” I said, and Indra scoffed. 

“I’d like to hear it… now.” Indra stared me down in a way that sent shivers down my spine.

“Me too…” Luna said crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at me. “We hoped you were dead, rather than being tortured in some CIA hole. Then aliens fall from the freaking sky, and your face is all over the news as some sort of space pirate. Then here comes some ex-KGB spokes hauling us off in the middle of the night to wherever the hell this is. Why are we here?”

“I had nothing to do with this. They just told me you guys were alive not twenty minutes ago. Why you’re here, that I have an answer for. We have a job.” I said tentatively and they all frowned deeper. I knew I had to play this just right or they would say hell no. 

“We don’t do that anymore. We got out, ever since Gaia, then Tris were born, too dangerous.” Nyko said pointing at each of the girls when he said their name. Tris being the younger of the two, maybe three or four who looked a lot like Luna, with her brown wavy hair and big brown eyes. Gaia was older, about thirteen, the same age as… well nevermind. Her dark hair was braided with blonde and pushed to one side. She was texting on her phone completely disinterested in her surroundings. 

Good to know the Russian’s put them to work. “So that's a no… to killing Macros?” I asked and Gustus rolled his eyes, Luna cursed, Indra shook her head, and Nyko just looked resigned. I just smirked, even after years they couldn’t resist.

“Don’t look so smug, you owe us… and if I smell vodka, beats, cabbage or anything else remotely Russian within fifty miles of here I will shove your head up your own ass.” Luna growled. Sadly I think that particular fantasy of hers was survivable. 

“Don’t worry we pretty much only have rum and fish, for the moment. But we can fly some in special for you.” I smirked, as Luna scowled at me, not pleased at all.

“What's the situation?” Indra asked, but before I had the chance to answer I was distracted.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM WOODS?” I turned at the sound of Raven chasing down Anya running at full tilt. To my shock they were both in a partial state of dress and Raven looked mad, very mad. “YOU CAN’T JUST… WHO JUST… I’LL KILL YOU”

“Who is that?” Indra asked, not looking pleased in the slightest as Anya attempted to button up her shirt to little success as they came wiping around the last corner.

“SHUT UP, IT IS NONE OF… SHIT.” Like I did earlier, Anya tried to stop too quickly and face planted. Bouncing and rolling and finally stopping at my feet.

Anya groaned and popped back to her feet far more quickly than I did and scowled at the group as if daring them to say anything. 

“Like second, like first.” Indra muttered in Trigedasleng, she was holding down a smirk and was clearly greatly amused.

“I will remove your tongue, Elder.” She hissed back pointing a finger at the shorter woman, then immediately ducked as a fist was directed at the back of her skull. Apparently Raven didn’t slow down in the slightest, leaving me a mire moment to grab her outstretched arm as it missed my face by inches. Instead of letting Raven fly past and potential hit someone far more squishy than me. I tackled her to the ground and was met with a surprised yell that didn’t deter her from smashing her metal knee into my gut knocking the wind out of me, and possibly breaking a rib.

We both went sprawling onto the ground, both gasping for breath. “You broke a rib.” I grunted.

“I was aiming for your vagina, guess I need to re calibrate my leg.” She grunted back, and we both laughed which I immediately regretted as my ribs flared up and by the noise beside me, Raven regretted it too. 

“What the fuck just happened?” Luna said. I realized that our little scuffle lasted barely a blink of the eye. So anyone who wasn’t nanitized barely would have seen it happen let alone have a chance to react. 

“You know that diet I mentioned…” I started but didn’t get to finish.

“I didn’t know…” Anya said, in a voice that was as close as she came to choking up. “I thought…”

Luna wrapped her in a hug. I remember the last time I saw Anya cry. Not since we were children. But as she wrapped her wife in her arms and whispered sweet nothings to each other. I felt weird staring at them so I decided to fill in Indra, Gustus and Nyko. It also had the added benefit of distracting Raven from the couples reunion. 

I stood up and dragged the confused Raven along with me. “Who the hell is that?”

“Her wife,” I said bluntly. Raven just stared at me with wide eyes. “Don’t look at me, homewrecker.”

“BBBB…” I patted her on the shoulder, as she stuttered looking confused. Well the best way to get someone's mind off one thing was to get it on another. 

“Raven, this is Gustus, Indra, Nyko, Gaia and Tris. Guys this is Admiral Raven Reyes of Star Force. She designs all of our equipment and is going to be running the fleet while I’m down on Andros.” 

“That's ‘cause you can’t handle being in Zero G for more than a day without puking.” She scoffed, recovering if still flabbergasted.

“That was one time… and you had me doing tricks.” I argued.

“Those were flight tests. Handling, performance, load, weapons, long-range sensors, all by which you asked to be done. Not my fault you get motion sickness.” She counted them off on her fingers.

“I do not get motion sickness.” I frowned at her. 

“Maybe not right now, but a few bottles of Ricar…”

“Okay… Okay… I see your point. I’ll lay off a bit.” I agreed, 

“Really… you're going to lay off the sauce?” Olivia laughed, where she came from I don’t know but she had Clarke right on her heels. “I can’t believe it. Mom would have a cow at that.”

“Really Lex, it's probably better if you don’t until we get a break.” Clarke said, far more serious. And did she just call me ‘Lex’ “Withdraw can have serious side effects.”

“Has our dear Heda become a booze hound?” Nyko hoped.

“Like you wouldn’t believe.” Of course Anya had to say something, even as she still held Luna close. “A bottle of something a day at least and that was before the nanites.”

“Wow wait…” Gaia said, taking interest in something that isn’t her pone for the first time. “Nanites like microscopic robots, nanites?”

“Of course now she’s interested.” Gustus muttered. “But what do nanites have to do with Lexa’s boozing.”

Great now there all saying it. I could feel my ears burning. I was never going to live this down. Not that I had much hope of that anyway, these people would jump on anything and now with my nosy squad around. First the fucking ‘liasons’, now Trikru, but these guys know all my buttons and they’ll push them till the color falls off and you can’t read the label anymore. I resolved myself by tomorrow I was done with alcohol… At least the imported stuff, domestic drinks only from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know... I know... But truly this is the best version of this chapter, all the others sucked by comparison. Next chapter will probably take a while because I haven't even started it. But the three chapters after that are completely finished. Why did I write them out of order? I don't know that's just the way my brain thinks.
> 
> Also in my head while I was writing this I somehow merged, Commander Shumaway, Diana Sydney and Major Byrne, into one she beast of a character, not that I trying to foreshadow anything, I just one to lazy, two to invested, and three way to fucking lazy to fix my error. Just an honest to goodness warning about how my brain likes to merge people together and create someone completely new and nonexistent. 
> 
> I realized this after I was done editing, because I that's when I check to make sure I spelled people names right and whatever. 
> 
> I do that in real life too... I should really stop doing that... Someone might get upset.


	14. Chapter 14

“You expect us to let you strap us into this chair and do what?” Nyko asked again, bewildered.

Over the past half hour Raven had attempted to explain the nanitization process, the laser rifles, and the Macro ground troops, or at least what little we knew of them. To say they were not impressed in the slightest was an understatement. 

Catching up, outside of the basic, ‘this is my daughter Olivia’, ‘Costia is dead’, ‘Lincoln’s on the way’, etcetera… Had been sort of thrown to the wayside as the need for them to be caught up on everything Star Force had taken president. I sent Tris and Gaia off with Olivia to show them around and get tents made for everyone. She wasn’t happy I sent her away, after she just met a bunch of people I previously said were dead, but she was just going to have to get over it. She was not and as far I was concerned would never be a member of Star Force. I already lost one kid to this war, I wasn’t about to lose another. 

Luna rolled her eyes at him. “Nyko, they want to pump us full of alien robots that they don’t fully understand, so we can gain abilities that they don’t fully understand. So we can help fight an unknown alien enemy that we don’t fully understand. What’s so hard about that?”

“My guess would be the ‘don’t fully understand’ part. Does it hurt?” Gustus asked. Raven and I gave each other a quick look but that seemed to be all he needed to know. “So someplace in between excruciating and torture.”

“Think being murdered over and over, while simultaneously being healed over and over, while simultaneously being invaded by flesh eating beetles.” They all grimaced. 

“And you can’t give us painkillers because…” Indra sighed. 

“Because the nanites will see it as a foreign substance and extract it from your system.” They all groaned at Raven’s world 

“Oh come on you, Branwada’s it’s not that bad.” Anya mocked them. Of course she didn’t think it was a big deal. She obviously doesn’t remember the sound of her screaming. “Sit down.”

Anya not so subtly pushed Luna into the seat. “Wait… wait… You can’t just force people to make these big life changing…”

“Shut up,” Anya snapped, strapping one of Luna’s arms into the seat. I grabbed one of her legs and put it in the restraint as well. “With luck you will pass out in the first hour or so.”

“And if I’m not lucky?” She grumbled, biting at one of Nyko’s fingers as he tried to strap her head down. “Fuck off.”

“You’ll pull out of your restraints and rip your eyes out.” Raven said a little too gleefully, she strapped Luna’s other leg roughly. At some point she had fixed, or found, her clothing but had been in a bad mood. Whether it was because her sexual escapades with Anya were interrupted, or due to the appearance of her long lost lover I wasn’t exactly certain. I didn’t think Raven and Anya were remotely serious so I was leaning towards the former. “If you try to scratch at your legs instead of your face, it makes it easier.”

“Thanks…?” Luna said warily, looking at the others as if they were going to save her. 

“I promise it is perfectly safe,” Clarke said, trying to be soothing. Though it lost its effect as six big needles popped out from the walls and positioned themselves over Luna. “It's just incredibly painful, but the nano’s won’t allow their host to die.”

“That is not even remotely comforting…”

“Clarke Griffin.” She supplied. “I’m a doctor, and I help Commodore Jaha and Private Dubios with resource allocation.”

“You're too young to be a doctor, how did you end up here, if you're not military.” Gustus asked, looking wearily at the protruding needles. 

“I skipped a few grades and Lexa murdered me.” I face palmed. Why did she have to say it like that? They all looked at me like I was crazy. It was probably best not to answer, how do you explain that it was an accident. 

“Luna, are you ready?” I snacthed the tablet from Clarke’s hands and put it under Luna's hand. “Whenever you're ready just push the red button, the room will seal up until the nanites are done. The tablet will inform Dr. Griffin when it is safe to enter, and she’ll provide you with medical attention.”

“You're just going to leave me in this room alone.” Luna sucked in a breath as Anya started shuffling people out. 

“Trust us… You will not want anyone to see this.” Anya said, pushing Nyko and Gustus, who were not small people out. 

“Will see you in a few hours?” I said shutting the door. 

“You're really just going to leave her in there?” Indra asked, glancing back towards the door. 

I didn’t have to answer as not a moment later the sound of Luna's screams rang out, despite the sound proof insulation. Seriously the first few seconds weren’t that bad, wimp.

“Okay…” Indra sighed, wincing at the sound. “Where’s my torture chamber?”

We set all of them up similar to how we did Luna, except we provided some extra leather straps for Gustus and Nyko because there was no doubt they could break out of the regular bindings in a matter of minutes. At least with the extra protection they would hopefully pass out before the nanites augmented their strength. 

Once we closed the last door Raven spoke up again. “I’m going to go check on some things.”

She said backing away from the group I could see her ship hovering overhead. “I’ve been meaning to check in with the guys, the factories are already programmed, Niylah can make any adjustments that need to be done. Anyone can really, it is pretty user friendly now with the touch screen, and of course it takes voice commands.” 

A slithering black arm fell from the ship's hold carefully wrapping itself around Raven's waist. “Wait, Raven we should…”

Anya started but Raven interrupted her. “I’ll be gone two… maybe three weeks, depending on what needs to be done. Don’t radio me, I’ll be too far out. Jaha knows what to do for everything else.”

And like that, she was gone whooshed up in her ship. She must have told it to move at full blast, because the wind almost knocked Clarke to the ground, forcing me to catch her. That part I didn’t mind.

“How badly do you think I messed up?” Anya sighed, watching the ship disappear through the clouds with a pop as it broke the sound barrier. 

“She has some baggage with people cheating on her.” Anya groaned

“That’s not… I didn’t know… It’s just… ahhh jok. Was it bad?”

“I slept with her fiancé.” Clarke said and Anya cursed some more. My eyes widen in shock at the news.

“How does that even happen?” Anya asked.

“It was before the whole leg thing and her unit was on leave. I ran into Finn at a bar and one thing led to another and I really never expected to see him again. Until Rae texted me she was home and wanted to introduce me and Mom to her fiancé.”

“Oh shit…” I said, seeing how terrible that would have been. “Please tell me you kicked his ass.”

“I sure did. His face when he saw me was priceless though. I wouldn’t bring that up with her. They’re amicable now after he saved her life, but you didn’t hear any of this from me.” 

“I totally screwed, aren’t I?” Anya asked. 

“It’s okay, first…”

“Oh, shove it up your ass…” Anya stomped away, flipping me off as she went. 

“I can’t believe they’re…”

“Yeah… at least you didn’t walk in on them.” I grimaced, glad I did not have that particular experience. I’m not surprised that happened though I was pretty sure the only reason Raven ever left her ship was because Anya asked her to. For a few moments, we just stood there, I could vaguely hear the muted screams of my comrades. I wondered if Clarke could too or if that was just another thing the nanites enhanced.

“I didn’t think they were serious, like serious serious.” 

“I don’t think they thought they were either. They’re idiots.” Clarke laughed. 

“Idiots indeed,”

“Speaking of idiots.” Clarke said, cheeks flushing. “Are you busy right now?”

“I ran out on a meeting earlier but I‘m sure that’s over by now.” I thought for a minute more. Wait… did she just call me an idiot? Was that a good thing? I really hope that was a good thing. “I guess I am free for a few hours.”

“So you want to catch lunch… with me?” Clarke asked, cheeks flushing a bit.

“Dr. Griffin, are you asking me out on a date?” I smirked.

“Not if you’re going to be an ass about it. That chef Dubois had been talking about getting, arrived today. Jaha said he makes whatever you want and it's really good.”

“That sounds great, I skipped breakfast this morning.” I said, gesturing for her to lead the way. We walked there in companionable silence, on the hastily grooved out road. I imagined that as Star Force grew we would have a more logical layout for our main encampment. Secretly I doubted it, the nicest part about Andros Island was that it was a tropical paradise. Everyone had pretty much spread out, though most had decided to set up their tents or structures by the beach. 

I imagined we would end up making a central base in the center of the island, but otherwise people would be spread out across the whole island. It wasn’t going to be the most secure set up having everyone spread out all over the place. But it would be great PR, ‘join Star Force and live in a tropical paradise.’ 

“What are you thinking about?” Clarke asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Housing… Hopefully there are going to be thousands of new people coming here. I was just thinking about how we are going to house them all.”

“Hopefully?”

“Yeah, the ‘liaisons’ were gung-ho about having thousands of soldiers getting nanitized without seeing if it will actually help defeat the Macros.”

“That’s ridiculous, Every platoon they sent down there has had a ninety percent casualty rate. They are nuking the continent to ash just to take out a few of them, how is that any better than getting a few thousand people nanitized.” Clarke asked disbelieving. 

“It’s politics, they want to feel like they still have power, they still have a choice. I’m willing to allow it for now, trust us go both ways. If I show I’m willing to cooperate then they will too, probably.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Well there is going to be a lot of hurt egos. How has the medical tent been going?” I asked, wanting to change the subject. I didn’t want to have to think about what horrible thing I might have to do if the liaisons became overly uncooperative. Maybe it would be as simple as surprising their countries' respective leaders with a home visit. Yes, that would work. 

“It’s small, about ten beds. It’s just Mom, Jackson, Wells and I. Wells is Jaha’s son, he’s a psychiatrist, but he went through medical school, Jackson is my Mom’s grad assistant. Jaha thought it would be a good idea to have a few of the ships transport the worst of the injuries from the frontlines here, where they can be hopefully saved.”

“With the added benefit of showing them the benefits of the nanites. Have any of these people joined Star Force?”

“About half so far. Wells is working to double our capacity, hopefully we can convince some more doctors down here, and we can get it to about one hundred. I suspect that we are mostly going to need orderlies. I suspect that you, your friends, and soldiers in general are the worst patients.”

I decided to say nothing, she was probably right that the vast majority of the people she would be treating would be uncooperative at best. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, we have it handled. Jackson and I have been talking about a new design for a sort of capsule, that we can put people in and the medical nanites can do what needs to be done. Liv has been stopping by chatting up my Mom.”

“Hmmmm,” I hummed as we got to the building that constituted our cafeteria. “Does she come around a lot?”

“For a few hours every morning, she comes down to help out. Then she does lunch with Raven, most days, probably bringing lunch to Raven in all honesty. I’ve seen her with Niylah in the afternoons, probably for one of those nasty training sessions she does.” I nodded, I haven’t seen my daughter in several days, I figured it was just because I’ve been so busy. “You didn’t know.”

“No… I haven’t really seen her since we got here. I’ve been busy.”

“Or you have been avoiding each other.” Clarke said, turning towards the chef. She ordered some sort of pasta and I got the same. 

“We haven’t been avoiding each other.”

“Then when’s the last time you two had a conversation.” 

“Ahhh…” I had no idea. It had been far too long. Probably not since that first night of the invasion. 

“Yeah, that's what I thought. It was her birthday yesterday.” 

“Oh shit… I didn’t get her anything… I totally forgot.” I sighed slumping into the chair. “Did she say something?”

“No, she didn’t say anything. Raven was concerned, she looked it up after a conversation they had yesterday.”

“She wants to join Star Force…” It wasn’t really a question, I knew what she wanted. She wanted to kill machines. “You think I should let her.”

“I didn’t say that. But you let her get nanitized.”

“I didn’t have a good reason to say no.” I sighed, putting my head in my hands. “I should just let her, not letting her is making her hate me.”

“She doesn’t hate you.” I groaned, disbelievingly. “I mean it. She talks about you a lot.”

“Probably because she thinks I’m an idiot.“ Clarke rolled her eyes, pretty much confirming my suspicion. 

“Maybe a little, I think Liv just wants you to see her as an adult. She is seventeen afterall, she can handle this.”

“Did she set you up to say this?” I shook my head knowing she had convinced me, not that I planned to tell Olivia.

“There may have been a little bribery involved. But I would have done it anyway, you could always talk to her yourself.” I doubted that would be a good idea. If anything it would probably make things worse. I must have sat there for a while in thought because our food arrived and I didn’t even notice. “This smells incredible.”

Clarke twirled up her pasta and took a large bite moaning as the noodles hung out of her mouth. Her eyes were closed as she enjoyed her food, thoroughly. I couldn’t help but watch… she really was beautiful. I definitely didn’t deserve her attention even in the slightest. After a minute her pretty eyes opened and her cheeks flushed, as she slurped up the remainder of her mouthful. 

“Are you just gonna’ watch as I eat?”

“It would be one of the best dates I've been on in years.” I smirked, blushing myself. I dug into my food and I agreed, it was the best thing I’ve eaten in days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so super sorry for how long this chapter took. But I have awesome news. chapter 15, 16, 17, and most of 18 is already written. So their will be a steady stream of chapters for a bit.


	15. Chapter 15

“This mission seems foolish.” Indra stated calmly, as she pulled off her hood. “We are supposed to destroy three enemy machines with the twenty-three of us.”

“It is what we must do,” I said back, finally relieving myself and getting in a good face scratch. The worst part about these suits was the fact that you couldn’t scratch your face no matter what you would do. It was like the only thing I could think about for hours as we ran through drills. Even when my legs were burning and the heat from the midday sun would have left any normal human with a severe heat stroke. The only thing I could think about was scratching my face to relieve hours of irritation due to the gallons of sweat I must have dumped from my body. 

Raven made lots of upgrades to the suit over the past two weeks, including… mostly… giving them more armor. Now that she wasn’t designing them with normal human beginnings in mind, she could make them heavier, a lot heavier. They were now easily two hundred kilos, but with more layers, and heavier base materials the suits internal air conditioners were less effective. Which resulted in everyone sweating like pigs under the Caribbean sun. I can only imagine what it would be like being surrounded by burning trees, and nuclear fallout. The simple thought of what I would be doing in the next twenty-four hours or so, just made my face itch more than it already did.

Maybe Raven would add in the feature if I explained the issue. Yeah… and maybe hell would freeze over. She probably knew about the defect and left it alone just to irritate me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the only one with this issue. “We have gone through worse.”

“What sort of shit have you been through that is worse than giant, walking, ten story, murder machines?” Sergeant Blake scoffed as she peeled the nanite suit from her muscular frame. As they all had learned, First Sergeant Octavia Blake didn’t give a single fuck what rank you were as long as you could hold a rifle and not get yourself killed you were a grunt and grunts don’t worry about shit like which hand to wipe your ass with… Her words. 

It was actually nice in her own little way. None of Trikru were used to being seen as ‘the brass’, some having at least one person who wasn’t completely scared shitless by the ‘permanent bitch faces’... another quote from Sergeant Blake… that we all apparently had, was a relief. Mostly everyone else seemed afraid of us to one degree or another. 

My team consisted of Indra, Luna, Nyko, Gustus, Anya, Lincoln. The American squad Pike reluctantly sent along, only by order from the President if Jaha’s sources were right, must have been his most hated squad of Special Forces. Probably for their association with our dear Admiral Reyes but more likely because they were the last thing you would expect from a highly trained squad of some undisclosed unit. 

When I looked over their rap sheets the pages had so much black on it they might as well have sent me nothing. It literally consisted of name… maybe, because half of them didn’t have a real name, Rank… iffy, because they otherwise didn’t seem to exist with any sort of American military group and ‘Extremely Fucking Dangerous’. It legitimately said that I read that line nine times, then made Clarke read it to make sure I wasn’t drinking too much. Ha, jokes on you… I wasn’t. Frankly they were a bunch of weirdos and that's coming from an notorious international, more or less, terrorist. Its probably why they weren't all that afraid of us, they were used to doing some barely legal shit. 

At the top of their hierarchy was Captain Bellamy Blake, he was a natural leader. But his leadership style was something left to be desired, but with the squad he has who could blame him. He simply led on two principals ‘Complete the mission,’ and ‘Do whatever the hell you want,’ his whole squad had the latter of the two, from what I could tell branded on their bodies. Why a tattoo wouldn’t have done just fine, I didn’t want to know. I wanted to ask Anya if Raven had a similar brand but was too afraid of whatever terrible thing she would do to me to ask. Despite the early trouble us Trikru had dealing with the seemingly lackadaisical leadership, once we got to know them a bit better it was easier to understand. 

Under him was his sister, First Sergeant Blake. She had pretty much two moods, a great mood and a shit mood. When she was in a good mood she was fierce, funny and a thrill seeker always looking to be the best she could possibly be. When she was in a shit mood though… It was like the sun going supernova in no seconds flat. She could be ruthless, violent and prone to swift and painful punishment to her subordinates or pretty much anyone who got in her way. Even I avoided her when someone pushed her buttons, the only person who didn’t was Indra, who I was pretty certain enjoyed watching the young Sergeant going on rampages which usually ended up with two, or more, people getting their heads knocked together. It was no wonder she made it up the ranks so quickly, people respected and/or feared her. Getting nanitized seemed to only make her more aggressive and down right crazy. 

There were two other Sergeants, Staff Sergeant Zoe Monroe and Sergeant Harper McIntyre. They were pretty normal, kept to the whole squad together. They tended to stick right by Octavia whether that was by Bellamy’s orders or because Sergeant Blake always took point could have been anyone's guess. 

Last was Corporal Fox, Atom, and the biggest irritant Murphy. I hadn’t heard Fox say more than three audible words, to anyone. She mostly just used hand signs that didn’t seem to make any sort of sense and was interrupted by the rest of the squad. Sometimes she made clicks to draw your attention but that was about it. Atom was like some sort of a robot, he followed orders to the letter… period. I liked him for that, he didn’t question you he didn’t even acknowledge you gave an order. He just did it, as if there was nothing else he would rather do in this entire world. I’m not sure if Fox and Atom were their first names, last names, or call signs. But nothing indicating anything else and no one called them by anything but that, so we just went with it. 

Murphy, he was a complete douche-bag, with a sharp tongue and a laser pointer on everyone's weaknesses. He liked to poke at people, see what words really grinds everyone's gears and say them relentlessly. Murphy liked to watch people break down emotionally then see what happened. And usually It ended up with him massaging a broken nose, not that he complained all that much, he got what he wanted. At this point most of us just ignored him, but some of us… Anya… just couldn’t let it go. 

India and Japan sent four man squads mostly made up of Corporals, and one Sergeant each. I didn’t know what politics went behind the scenes, or why General Shumaway didn't send anyone, to make it so that Pike got more representation on this mission, and I didn’t care much as long as the man was jumping up someones ass that wasn’t mine. I didn’t really have much time as of yet to really get to know the Indian and Japanese teams as well. Leaving them to Indra and Anya, as they seemed to need the most help adjusting to their new bodies and weaponry, and needed more detailed instructions then just ‘whatever the hell you want.’ Not that they were any less capable, they just all weren’t crazy suicidal maniacs who ran through trees and shot each other with low powered beams, just cause they could. 

Neither Dr. Griffin was very happy when after our first training session we all came back with half a dozen pin sized holes, that would and should have killed a normal man. Plus the process of getting stitched up was most certainly worse than the original injury. Instead of stitching you up which would take a lot of time, apparently, they just shot you with a staple gun to hold you together till the nanites got around to fixing it. Then the little bastards would push the staples out of your body in the most painful way possible. It was straight up torture and made you wish you would have just died. Some of the doctors started referring to us as the walking dead, because we should have all been dead ten times over. 

“I mean you fuckers are crazy shit incarnate.” Blake gestured to Trikru, who collectively glared at her. “Oh don’t get pissy, I can read. But seriously murderous space robots, bent on harvesting the planet for raw resources or whatever alien sci-fi bullshit, that has to be the most fucked up thing ever.”

“Not as fucked up as these goddamn suits. Hasn’t Reyes heard of fucking air conditioning.” Murphy grumbled. “It's like I’m swimming in goat puke.”

Maybe I’m not the only one Reyes made a partially malfunctioning suit for. “Maybe you're just a disgusting pig and the suit just wants you to know it.” Sergeant Blake quipped, receiving a middle finger from him. 

“I fucking doubt that. Fucking bitch…” He didn’t get to finish, as Anya grabbed him by his generator pack holsters slamming him against the nearest locker pinning him a foot off the ground. 

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking about?” I’m not sure if he planned this particular interaction or just took the opportunity as it came to him. Anya had been on edge since Raven has essentially been out of contact for the past few weeks. Every day she had been gone seemed to put the general in a worse and worse mood, not even Luna dared talk to her when she was like this. She was ready to kill someone. But by the smirk on Murphy’s face, he wasn’t all that unhappy being manhandled by the irate General. 

“Oh you can’t miss her, she’s kinda short, Latino looking, probably a bit high, and absolutely bat shit…” With each word Anya’s grip on Murphy just got tighter and tighter until she finally snapped, punching him straight in the face causing blood to spurt from his nose, not for the first time today I might note.

His head rolled on impact and he grabbed his nose but otherwise seemed unharmed for the moment. I knew if I didn’t step in soon, Anya might just kill him. At least injure him in a way no normal human should survive but a Star Force Marine would brush off in a few hours. Even when Clarke shot me it healed in half a day with help from my ship's medical bay. I only had a light white scar down the center of my face that would eventually fade whenever the nanites got around to fixing it. But I would guess my aching and most likely torn muscles were higher up on the priority list. 

“General… put him down.” Anya didn’t release him, if anything she held on tighter and growled in his face as he grinned though his blood soaked lips. “NOW!”

“Come on Puppy,” He sing-songs to my horror. “Master said…”

Anya drove her elbow into his throat, crushing it instantly, causing the man to choke on his words. She released him as he collapsed on the ground struggling for air that he didn’t have a hope in hell of getting. He would survive, his nanites would collect oxygen and feed it to his brain, but the next hour or so was going to be miserable as his body attempted to do what it was naturally programmed to do, even for Murphy that was harsh. 

He really wasn’t as much of a dick as he pretended to be. If you could get past the first ten minutes or so of conversation with him you could tell he held nothing but respect for Raven and the rest of their squad. You would find out that he was married with a kid on the way, which he would gush over to a nauseating degree. Honestly he had like fifty pictures of his wife and unborn child on him at all times. I hoped they wouldn’t get stained in blood.

Even Raven, in Raven's backwards sort of way, said that Murphy almost never wasted her time. That was like the biggest compliment anyone could get, which is the only reason I pushed through his acidic personality. Obviously Anya hadn’t made it that far with Murphy, they were on, ‘I see a tiger in a cage, lets see how many times I can poke it till it bites my face off.’ They have been doing this little dance for the past several days, as if the rest of us were just a warm up and this was his main event. 

As the Commander, I should have stepped in long before things got to this point. But I figured someone would try to talk one of them down, if only I remembered how stubborn and irrational both of them were. Also I didn’t really see the point, we work together or we die. They know that, I know that, the whole world knew that. And if beating each other within an inch of their collective lives is what they needed to truly respect each other, then that's exactly what I was going to let them do. 

I blame Trikru for this. The tribe wasn’t kind, there wasn’t someone to fight your battles for you so you either did it yourself or roll with the punches. And I can promise you that none of my family was willing to take a punch more than once. Punishment was swift and violent, everyone… except for Indra somehow. Mine mostly from Anya… clumsiness is not a fault. 

But it trained us to be better soldiers, to kill or be killed. Now with the nanites, making everyone stronger than ever. Punches and kicks turned into deathblows, and when something that should have killed you is nothing more than a flesh wound, sometimes you had to get creative, or just straight up vicious. And a bit of pain was good, even while nanitized you still felt pain, but the normal things that would have stopped you in your tracks were nothing. We had to retrain our minds to not worry about broken bones, torn muscles, heat exhaustion, or even giant. But crushing Murphy's throat was a bit to much. 

Indra pushed Anya away from the downed man, before she had a chance to kick him, but not before she had the chance to spit on him. She was out of the tent in a heartbeat as Luna grabbed her other arm and dragged her out, dragging half her kit along with her. 

I kneeled beside him and hauled Murphy up onto a bench. “Your nanites will keep running oxygen to the flowing through your body, so you won’t pass out or die. You really shouldn’t test her, she could have killed you.”

He gurgled something but only blood and puss came out of his mouth dripping on the nanite floor and bubbling away. I looked at the others around me and most just looked shocked at what they just witnessed. 

“You're not going to do anything about that. Anya just crushed his throat.” One of the Japanese soldiers asked, I think his name was Watashi. 

“It is our way.” I stated, I have become accustomed to the response at this point. I didn’t have any other words to describe… What that was, rampant jealousy… Abuse… Short-tempered Adults… An underdeveloped frontal lobe... Training. “The nanites will have him good as new in no time. Fox, Atom. Escort Murphy to the med tent. Maybe Dr. Griffin can help make the healing less horrible.”

“I do not understand this.” He said, shaking his head as he dropped his pack. “Your methods seem so barbaric.” 

“Of course it is…” I said, staring them down. “It is also highly effective in combining a force quickly and we need to be the best, right now. We are going to be facing hundred foot machines bent on destroying our entire civilization. We must shed what makes us weak, pain is just an obstacle we must over come to defeat our enemy. I don’t care if I have to flog everyone on the late late show to get my point across. We must be the strongest, most resilient force the world has ever had. 

"If you have a problem with someone you deal with it in a way you seem fit. If their above you in rank challenge them to a fight, if their below you kick their ass. I won't have men and women leading those who could kick their ass. You want to move up in rank around here prove to me, prove to us that you're a survivor because that is the only way we will win this war. And we will win if it is the last thing I do. The General will be disciplined as Indra and Luna see fit. You are all dismissed, take the rest of the day off. We leave at 0300.”

I should just make a separate equipment room for myself so that I don’t have to see any of this. Then it won’t be my fault, right?

They saluted me and were out of there as fast as they could without seeming to be running for their lives. Apparently they really did what I call, what’s his face, the pudgy guy. You know the one who drives singers and bands in his car, then sings their songs better than them… James something… the stuffed chicken. James the stuffed chicken. Whatever his last name is, it sounded like food, I guess it really didn’t matter. I doubted he would like me flogging people on his show.

I relaxed my shoulder once they were out of the doors. I turned and realized, Bellamy Blake was still there. “Is there something I can help you with, Captain?”

“No, I just wanted to apologize for Murphy. He’s… well… He’s an insufferable jerk. But he’s a good soldier.” I nodded in understanding. 

“It is not a problem, the General has her own faults.” I gave him a small smile. “We shouldn’t apologize for those two, if we did we would be sitting here all day. They're probably good for each other anyway, we should just stick them in a room and wait till they both beg for mercy.”

“Only if there's a camera so we don’t miss all the action.” He chuckled, then asked nervously. “Do I want to know what they are going to do to her?”

“I wish I didn’t know, so I doubt you would like to. But you are more than welcome to go find out.” He shook his head.

“No, I think I will leave that to my nightmares. Though I’m sure O will tell me in excruciating detail. She would do anything to get on Indra’s good side, and under Anya’s skin.” I hated how true that might turn out to be. “Have a good day, Commander.” He saluted me and left at a far more sedate pace than the others.

I sat down on one of the benches and rubbed my temples hoping to soothe my impending headache. “ _Was leading always this hard?_ ”

“ _Yes,_ ” Gustus grunts. Patting my shoulder, switching to Trigedasleng as well. It made the others uncomfortable as we spoke it around them, so we limited it to our own personal communications. It was nice because all of them would have been children when knowing Trigedasleng would have been relevant for them to learn so it was a bit of a dead language. They were all bright and would probably learn it quickly, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if it became the unofficial language of Star Force. But for now it was nice to be able to speak in public without out everyone listening. “ _But you did well. Bellamy has a good head on his shoulders. You should promote him when this mission is successful._ ” I nodded agreeing. It would also hopefully improve relations between us and the United States. Though I doubted that would be possible as long as Pike was around.

“ _I am surprised she is still such a hot head._ ” Nyko chuckled, stowing his gear. “ _Isn’t age supposed to calm a person._ ”

“ _She has had a really rough few weeks._ ” I chuckled without humor, despite my worry that my squad wasn’t ready for this mission. “ _He could have gotten worse._ ” 

“ _Yeah, she could have crushed his balls into little pieces too,_ ” Lincoln chuckled, making us all laugh. That idea was funny.

“ _Fine… Maybe she's only soft on Olivia and A…_ ” I almost slipped up again. I almost thought about him again. Every time I blinked I saw the flashback of that night over and over. All the blood and broken bones, the way he fell out of the ship, his lifeless corpse. All of those emotions, the pain, the guilt, the loss, all that came flooding back for just a moment. A moment too long, I didn’t have time to think about this. I just couldn’t, I needed to focus on killing machines. 

“ _Hey…_ ” Gustus said, patting my shoulder. Pulling me out of that recurring reverie/nightmare. He knew what happened he must have, he had gone through something similar after losing his younger brother, even if I never said anything about it. Someone would have… “ _We will be fine, Heda. What were you always telling us?_ ”

“ _Blood, must not have blood._ ” I sighed, why did he have to bring that up? I knew he was right. I had to let it go, if not forever at least for now. My son wouldn’t want this to cloud my judgement, not now not like this. But I was going to find them… those monsters that created these machines of death. Jus nou drein jus daun be damned, I will kill them all. Not just for him, but for every parent who has lost a child, for every kid whose parent was burnt to ash. For the ever innocent person on this planet those bastards have killed by making my planet into another causality in this perpetual way. “ _Okay?_ ”

“ _Okay…_ ” I said, though I knew I was lying. I’m certain he knew I was lying too, but didn’t want to point it out.

“ _Now would you like to have breakfast with us, the girls and I? They would love to see you… especially after your wonderful first impression._ ”

“ _It’s because they think I have a disease._ ” I grunted, it wasn’t that I had been avoiding them. I have just been busy. I saw Anya with them a few times over the past weeks and they seemed to adour her. But unlike her relationship with adults, Anya was great with kids. Probably because she pretended not to care about them at all and they damn near fell over themselves to impress her. 

“ _Only because that’s what Anya keeps telling them,_ ” Lincoln said. “ _You should really spend some time with your nieces. The real you… not just the you in all those embarrassing stories we have been telling them._ ”

“ _I’m sure that is far better than the actual truth._ ” I paused seeing any and all three of them began to argue “ _Besides I have plans._ ”

“ _Oh… with the young Dr. Griffin._ ” Nyko said, smirking as if he already knew everything plus some.

“ _OHHH… I haven’t heard about this._ ” Gustus lied. through his teeth. 

“ _That's because they have been trying to keep it secret. But a Mother always knows…_ ” Nyko’s smirk got even wider. Oh, god he was referring to himself as Mother again, or worse he talked to Abby, or double worse he was doing both. 

“ _And what did Mother have to say?_ ” Lincoln innocently, as if he had no idea either. 

“ _Well this Klark is twenty-five…_ ”

“ _So our little Lexy is a cradle robber. Looking the way you do I’m surprised you didn’t go for a teenager._ ” My ears turned red at Gustus’ words. I knew I looked young, really young. It was commented by the other professors, mostly Raven, that they couldn’t tell me apart from their first year students. Abby thought because of the properties in my blood, and to a lesser extent, everyone else in Trikru. That it stimulated advanced cellular regeneration past, or something, I wasn’t really listening after the fifth or six word I didn’t completely understand. But the phrase ‘extended life cycle’, was one I paid attention too and was probably the reason why I looked the same age as I did when I was eighteen. 

“ _Klark is an adult… And were not dating._ ”

“ _So… your just fucking. But that doesn’t explain why you broke into the Louvre._ ” I just put my head in my hands as they continued to tease me, as if I wasn’t even there. And I didn't break into the Louvre, we walked in and nobody stopped us. The media blew it completely out of proportion. I knew they were family and I should be happy that all of them were back, alive even, but… I wished that we would have all remained separated for all eternity and save me from these embarrassing family moments. 

Of course I didn’t want that to be true, Nyko, Lincoln, Gustus, Luna, Indra and Anya were essentially my older siblings. And because I was the youngest I got picked on and babied the most. 

“ _... I think we should interrogate this Dr. Griffin._ ” Gustus said, smirking as my head snapped up to glare at him." _See if she also thinks there not dating._ "

“ _You will do no such thing._ ” I stood stripping off the rest of my gear and throwing on the nearest clothing that wasn’t covered in sweat. 

“ _Oh, now look what you did, Gustus. She’s throwing a tantrum. I wasn’t done teasing her yet._ ” Nyko pouted, as I stormed out of the equipment shed. 

“Hey wait…” Lincoln said, switching from Trigedasleng back to English. “Where are you going, Lexi? We’re, sorry. Right guys?”

“Oh yes,” “Incredibly apologetic,” Nyko and Gustus muttered, not even remotely sorry in the slightest. 

“Shower, nap, spend time with my daughter, maybe Clarke and if I’m really lucky enjoy an afternoon with Pike.” I started picking up the pace hoping they wouldn’t catch me but to no success. 

“No, no, no, you said we all had the day off, that includes you. We should go shopping.” Nyko said, as Gustus dragged me to a halt, and as gently as anyone with hands the size of a basketball could, put me in a headlock. I thought about escaping but figured it would just end in a four man pile up, with me being crushed by two thousand pounds of half-metal assholes. 

“Why in the hell would I need to go shopping?” I asked, begrudgingly. I really wanted to ask ‘Why in the hell would I want to go shopping?’. I was pretty sure they had something planned, I didn’t know what it was and I was certain I didn’t want to find out.

“Because we are on a tropical island, and I haven’t seen you in a swimsuit once.” Lincoln said. 

“This is a military base, not a vacation spot.” I grunted out despite Gustus flexing at whatever I said, he disliked.

“Why can’t it be both, take a swim, call it water training, deep-sea drowning drills. Who cares? Even the Commander gets a break now and again. Come on, you love shopping. I’ll buy you something for Clarke…” Nyko sing-songed, I just sighed. There was never a single time I have enjoyed a shopping trip. Probably because ‘shopping’ had always turned into them playing dress up with me being the doll. I hate being the youngest.

“Resignation… I take that as a yes, boys.” Gustus whistled. “Have fun you three, bring something back for the girls.”

“Do you think we should ask Olivia to come?” Lincoln asked. I felt my face pale at the mention of my daughter. This morning would become even worse if she was there. 

I tried to decide what lie I could tell to not let that happen, but I was too late. “Hey Mom, I heard you need a swimsuit. I can’t believe you left them all at home. I have the perfect place.”

The leader of the most powerful military in the world, hell in the history of the world, thwarted by three idiots, and a seventeen year old girl. I called the Dutchman, conceding defeat. Whatever hell I was about to experience would be far more bearable if I wasn’t dragged through thousands of miles of oceans to get there first.

\-----

Three hours and what must have been a billion swimsuits and summer dresses, because buying just a swimsuit was apparently pointless, according to my three kidnappers, I was apparently ready to go. Those three together are a nightmare, I should have thrown myself into the ocean and swam to Siberia where I would have been safe. At least I wouldn’t have wasted a morning being schlepped around New York like a rag-doll. I’m sure the media would have some great pictures of me dangling from my shoulders like a child, while I'm being carried by people that have six-plus inches on me. I really hated that almost everyone I knew was freakishly tall.

Olivia called Clarke, and got her to meet me at the beach later. I didn’t know Olivia's number, I didn’t even know either of them had a cell phone. The fact that she called Clarke in front of me was weird as I had become accustomed to using the nanites for everything. I felt like an idiot because Clarke isn’t nanitized so of course she had a normal phone, pretty much everyone but me had a cell phone. It’s not like she gets message alerts in her head. As with everyday I questioned my ever draining abilities as a parent. At least Olivia stopped asking to join Star Force, and instead was… well I didn’t really know. I should probably find out before she ended up in South America, ‘by chance’. At least we got to spend time together today and she seemed to enjoy my misery so I guess that was a win. She even got to go to some vegan place that she read about on the internet. Nyko and Lincoln looked at her like she was crazy when Olivia told them she was a vegan. I just shrugged and watched as they pretend to hate every single bite of their meals.

They finally decided on a loose red dress with an open back that displayed most of my tattoos. Particularly the one on my spine. When I made my way to the designated spot. It was a secluded spot a few minutes walk from the main camp area. I hadn’t been here before considering all the work that has needed to be done. Technically I shouldn’t be here now, but it was a rule that, if you could help it, no work eight hours before a mission. It helps to de-stress after long hours of training and prepping, it also gives everyone the chance to say goodbye. You never know what will happen in the field and it is always the best to leave with no regrets, even if that regret was not working.

Clarke looked amazing, in some tiny blue bikini that matched her eyes. She was sunbathing in the afternoon sun, and waved to me as I came closer. I would have said something but only weird noises came out so I gave up. 

Instead I just sat down on the nice blanket Clarke laid out for us. I tried finding something to say but nothing came to mind except for the upcoming mission. I was certain Clarke didn’t want to hear about that so I stayed silent. It was sort of an unspoken rule between us that we didn’t talk about how depressing our current reality really was or at least my work everyday. I liked hearing about Clarke’s day, though and she didn’t mind telling me. Usually it was just a series of complaints about her mother, and Wells, and the annoying soldiers she was forced to treat. I didn’t mind because anything was better than Pike.

“You know... It wouldn't kill you to make a little noise when you approach. You might give someone a heart attack one of these days walking around like that. Are you always that quiet or am I just special?” Clarke smirked. I sighed realizing I wasn’t particularly good company at the moment.

“No, I just have a lot on my mind.”

“I was mostly just kidding. I know you're not a big talker.” Clarke smirked, opening one of those blue eyes that I was coming to enjoy looking into so much. “You can talk about it if you want. Is it the mission?”

“And other things,” I said, knowing Clarke wasn’t going to let this go unless I gave her an honest answer. “It's just… I keep thinking about Bekka. Your mother and Raven keep pestering me to get a full examination, MRI, CAT scans, blood tests, and I am certain a half dozen other things that they will come up with.”

“Is there something wrong with that? You know they are very curious…” I doubted it was less of a ‘they’ and more like a ‘We’ are very curious.

“I know… It’s just… It would be like confirming everything she ever did was for her own benefit. I already know it is. But having physical proof, rather than just reading a bit of her research notes are two different things. Plus what would they do with what they find?”

“Probably nothing. They’re nerds, they want to know things. Not knowing things causes them physical pain and makes them all the more curious. Do you not trust them?" I licked my lips, deep in thought. It wasn't really about trust. I knew logically that whatever they would find would be used for the benefit of Star Force. But… 

"I feel like 'swimming'." I stood and removed the dress in one swift motion. Clarke’s eyes grew wide and her mouth hung open in shock at the sudden change. I started turning and walking towards the waiting surf, I knew it wasn’t the most tactful way to avoid a conversation but it got the job done. I paused looking back at Clarke who was still more or less frozen staring at me with her mouth hanging open from her place on the towel. I winked at her, “Care to join me.” I dove into the water but by the sound of shuffling, I could tell she wanted to go for a ‘swim’ as well. I never did decide on a swimsuit.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the chapter I've been kicking myself to just post. Sorry for the wait. I'm just a total ass.

"This mission seems foolish." Indra stated.

"Your opinion has been noted." I said, for what felt like the thousandth time. Indra was nothing if not persistent. 

"You scared of a little free fall, Granny?" Octavia smirked at the older woman. Sergeant Blake has come to calling everyone by a nickname, or call sign if anyone important asked. Though instead of using them behind everyone's back, which she explained was rude, she says it to your face. It was sweet in a way, at least until I heard her refer to me as ‘Cougar’. Let's just say I was not pleased and she did not refer to me by that any longer, but after hearing her call Anya ‘Stare and Glare’, I felt much better. 

"I know no fear, child." Indra growled

"Except for acrophobia, aviophobia, claustrophobia, basophobia…" Octavia teased, counting off a small list of the older woman's numerous phobias, off on her fingers.

It wasn’t she hid it well, but Indra had an immense list of strange and oddly specific phobias. For example she is terrified of blue spiders, she almost refused to come on this mission due to an incident we once had where a Sazima Tarantula, which was native to the region we were about to drop into, fell on her head. 

Indra's perpetual frown deepened as the young Sergeant continued to count the fears she had witnessed over the past week. I was pretty certain it was the girls mission to get under the General’s skin, and from what I could tell it was working. I should be impressed, that was a hard feat. 

Seriously these Americans really liked getting under everyone's skin. If I wasn’t certain by this point that General Pike hated their guts, the fact that Jaha spoke very highly of them, and that they were relatively loyal to Raven. I would think they were doing it on purpose to lure us into lowering our guard, and then assassinate us while our backs are turned. It was still a possibility I suppose but I would find it unlikely considering they have had plenty of opportunities to kill any of us. Maybe they were just waiting for the right moment to make it look like an accident. 

"Button up people…" Reyes' voice announced into the troop hold, essentially the biggest cargo bay on the nanoship, but with jump seats. "You drop in three minutes."

A few moments before we were about to ship out, Raven came blasting down to Andros Island. Apparently she wanted to take us personally, I only saw her for a moment as she had sequestered herself on her bridge after talking briefly with her old squad. As far as I could tell she hadn’t even looked at Anya, and the General had been pouting ever since and was holed up in the closest jump seat to the bridge. 

I didn’t want to say anything about it. I should have told Reyes to stay away and not distract Anya from the mission. But I knew my closest friend, she could compartmentalize. Despite her personal problems she would be fine for the mission. "Status check"

A chorus of 'Goods', 'greens', 'all sets', 'we're agos', a few nonverbal gestures, not all of them were ‘Okay' but that was just the way things went sometimes, and I knew my squad was all set.

I was about to give a nice little speech I had planned, it was good, at least Clarke said it was good. It was a speech that told of bravery, sacrifice and honor in the face of the enemy. About how being the very first unit of Star Force Marine’s would be marked in history as the best and brightest. How victory would mean the survival of our species, and bring hope to the earth. Then dumbass Murphy had to open his big stupid mouth. 

“Now listen hear Ladies,” I could hear the eye roll of everyone in the squad. He was a natural mood killer like no one else. I would consider it a talent if it wasn’t currently pissing me off. “I’ve never had a problem serving with women. But these rifles are heavy, and I don’t want anyone try…”

I kicked him, I couldn’t help myself. Murphy was buttoned up, his oxygen mask was on, his face plate wasn’t closed, but as far as I’m concerned he was ready to go. What’s a little oxygen deprivation to a man who had his larynx crushed not eighteen hours before. The light had just turned yellow, which meant we were at an undesirable range but he could still make it… probably. I didn’t know what he was gonna say, but I’m sure it would have pissed a lot of people off considering I was already pissed. Too bad though he really could be a nice enough guy.

“Misogynistic bastard.” I heard one of the Indian Ghatak's spit, then curse at themselves. 

“Did you just spit in your hood?” Harper asked, raising an eyebrow. She only received a middle finger in response. Along with a mumbled ‘Go fuck yourself.’ All of the Americans seemed to have a talent for pissing someone off. Apparently Harper had her claws in on Lieutenant Jasmine Sarin, the poor thing. 

She was a short, frail looking woman with dark brown hair, and warm brown eyes. She looked like she should be in a pencil skirt signing billion dollar contracts over… whatever people spend that kind of money on, other than a military kit. She was easily the nicest person here, definitely didn’t deserve to be on the front lines in a war to extinction. But like most everyone here, she probably pissed someone off. If she survives, I am going to promote her and stick the exceedingly organized corporal with Lieutenant Dubois, who I promoted back to her previous rank because… well I can that’s why. Seriously Niylah’s organizational skills were only existent to herself. 

I shook my head as the light went green. I had to focus on leading this mission, the mission that most certainly would determine the fate of humanity. No pressure… 

“Let’s go.” I shouted a little annoyed because that sounded better in my head. Jumping head first out of the hole in the floor of the nanoship that I kicked Murphy through seconds ago. I heard the rest of the squad whooping, cheering,and quite possibly screaming, from behind me in my headset as they followed. The few days of mission prep that some of them had was not nearly enough, but it would have to do. 

This wasn’t the first time I air dropped into a hot zone, but it sure felt like it. We jumped out of the ship at the very limits of Earth's atmosphere, at a little over eleven thousand kilometers. The amount of air-time we had was staggering. Even the most enthused parachuter, would probably second guess taking this jump. Luckily we had a heads up display that told us exactly what we needed to do. And for the next ninety seconds we didn’t need to do anything. 

What was also new for me was the fact we didn’t have parachutes. We had these things called wings suits, Reyes thought they would make for a faster drop. Considering a parachuter would make a nice target for a Macro missile, I wasn’t about to complain.

After the allotted time, my suit started blasting warnings that it was going to extend the ‘wings’, and a second later I was gliding. “Let's get into formation people, I don’t want to be too spread out and I want to get over trees as fast as possible.”

“FUCK YOU,” It was Murphy who shouted over the radio. I just rolled my eyes at his vulgar words, it wasn’t worth pursuing. I did kick him out of a spaceship afterall. “I’ll be on point.”

“For the rest of your incredibly short life if you don’t cut the shit, Murphy.” Captain Blake said and I was pretty sure Sergeant Blake let out a noise of disgust. Seriously, that woman had a problem with being on point. 

Everyone started organizing themselves with Anya and Indra pulling directly beside me. The rest of the group wasn’t far behind, apparently there had been some sort of discussion about my safety that I had been unaware of because they were absurdly close. Close enough that if the Macros were to detect us they would probably think we were one large object. The others maintained a much more reasonable distance. 

Five klicks from the drop point, we ran into trouble. A random Macro must have been collecting raw materials, or something, and spotted us. We were getting close to the treetops by this point, slowing down as best we could. We didn’t need to slow down all too much due to the nanites, but we didn’t want to get smashed through a tree. It could at the very least immobilize one of us and I wasn’t about to carry one of my marines halfway across the freaking continent because they broke their leg.

The first explosion shot down one of the corporals on the Japanese team. “Evasive maneuvers. Get on the ground, now, now, now, NOW!”

I immediately spun into a dive that would have made anyone sick, it almost made me sick, but I wasn’t about to be shot out of the sky by anti air shells. We didn’t have the armament to take out a ground target while flying, it was just too much to cram into these light suits. I pulled out of the spin right before I hit the top of the trees. I was moving even faster now, I’d probably be smashed like a bug but I didn’t get much time to ponder my impending pancaking. 

I spotted a Macro Worker, what we were beginning to call the relatively little machines that have been crawling out of the factors after the building sized Walker Macros. They looked like blocky ants with the head area having pincers, or a drill, or whatever tools they needed for their primary function. Their arms, or legs, it didn’t really seem to matter, had tools for cutting and other things that we had yet to identify. All of it being dangerous for us scrawny, tiny humans. Some of the bigger ones even had missiles tubs, or mortars, and other such things that shot at planes and drones. We were unlucky to have flown over a few that happened to fall in that category.

I reacted the moment I saw it, and that most certainly saved my life. Before it had a chance to fire its back cannon. I pulled my arms flat to my sides and pointed my feet straight towards the ground. It was a move we practiced a hundred times but never at such speeds I just hoped I missed the really thick branches on the way down. 

The explosion missed me by inches as it went off directly where I would have been if I had not seen the reddish-gray colored machine. The very leaves of the trees burn, engulfing the entire area of molten rain. The concussive blast was so strong a normal human would have been turned into a gelatinous heap. My face plate went dark to prevent me going completely blind as I crashed through the branches until I unceremoniously slammed into the ground. I don’t know how many meters I was barriered, I wasn’t even certain which direction was up, but it didn’t matter. I had had a machine to kill.

Ignoring my aching body, I shook off some of the loosest dirt, I could hear the machine coming towards me. I didn’t bother standing up, or even digging myself out of the hole the whole way, it would just waste time. I freed myself just enough so that I could unlimber my laser rifle, from its holster on the bottom of my power pack. I aimed in the general direction of where I thought the damned machine was coming from and waited. 

My visor was just starting to lighted when I saw the man sized shears the Macro must have been using to cut down trees. I fired, my visor went dark again and after about four seconds, and me not being dead, I released the trigger. 

The Macro barely even made it out of the tree line. It's center mass was completely destroyed and glowing red from the laser's beam. I was impressed, granted this was just a small Worker Macro, but I destroyed it utterly as the machine split in half and fell to the forest floor. I probably held the trigger down way too long. Raven would be very happy if I could get the recording back to her. I may not have been the first person to kill a Macro but I was at the very least one of the first to do it single handedly. 

“HEDAAAA!!!” Indra yelled, as she came hopping through the trees. The older woman was jumping from branch to branch at a high speed till she saw me stuck in my personal crater.

“Here,” I waved, speaking in English. It was the group’s consensus to speak it while in the field, as everyone spoke it mostly fluently. I wouldn’t say that Indra looked visible relieved to see me but I could tell she was glad I wasn’t dead. 

I realized I was going to have a hard time getting out of this hole on my own. Luckily I was in fact right side up so that wasn’t the issue. But, I was easily three meters down and the soil wasn’t firm in the slightest. Every time I churrened my legs I just slipped and stumbled causing more and more dirt to cave in on me. As I struggled, there were two audible thumps as Indra rolled out of the tree she had stopped in. I reached my arm out and she hauled me out of the hole like I weighed nothing, and to her I probably did, nanites or not. 

She pushed her helmet against mine and I knew something must have been wrong. The only reason to use helmet to helmet contact was if you wanted to speak privately with an individual person. “Three of us didn’t make it down; we thought you were taken out in that blast. I was certain I saw you escape so I came searching and Anya moved ahead.”

I nodded slightly and then realized the gesture made me dizzy and immediately regretted it. I must have had a concussion. I should have been hearing chatter from anyone in my unit, but the blast must have either knocked out my mic or I didn’t just have a concussion. I tried to fiddle with it the best I could, but between bulky gloves and unyielding hood I couldn’t evaluate the damage. Hopefully the nanites would rewire themselves over the next hour or so. “What's going on?”

“We’re essentially split in two, half the team got through the initial bombardment so I sent them ahead to clear a path as best they could. They’re taking it slow to give us the chance to catch up.” I looked at my heads up display and saw what she was talking about. Ten green dots were heading west at maybe ten klicks, essentially walking pace for a nanitzed Marine.

“We must have landed right on top of one of their harvesting areas, there are Macros everywhere. Luna and Sergeant Blake are in big trouble, they dropped on top of five Workers, Tank and Lala are moving to assist. But… they might be too late. Everyone else is relatively clear, one or two like you and I, but more are converging every second.” I switched over to my internal nanites hoping they could at least tune into Indra's chat until mine or whatever the hell was wrong was repaired. 

“We can’t stay here, every Macro within thirty klicks is probably swarming on this location.” I took off in a sprint in the direction my heads up was displaying as the LZ. We were too far away to help Luna and Sergeant Blake; they were southwest of our position and the LZ was basically east. I wanted to go back but I had to think of the success of the overall mission. If the four of them couldn’t hold off five Macro Workers then this whole mission would be futile, anyway.

As I began running, reports were heard over the tactical chat I commandeered from Indra. The only people on this channel were Indra, though she wasn’t using it at the moment, Anya, Luna, Gustus, Nyko, and Captain Blake, my Officers. A squad level chat, and a general chat that could be heard from everyone. After about five minutes during mission prep I was sick of hearing… well mostly Murphy’s random chatter. So I programmed different levels of communication so everyone could hear what was directly important to them. 

“Lieutenant Sarin has had her arm blown off. But the nanites closed the wound and Fox found her arm, she’ll probably be fine. Squad one is effective. Squad two has one causality and is effective. Squad three is scattered with heavy casualties but they are clearing out, more to come. Squad four is scattered but whole.” Nyko rattled off in between the sounds of laser fire. I was leading Squad four with Indra, Luna was running Squad three with Sergeant Blake, Anya was running Squad two with Gustus and Captain Blake was running squad one with Nyko. 

I could see that everyone's name in my squad was green meaning there was still brain activity. We didn’t bother checking if there was a heartbeat as a nanitized Marine could survive several minutes if not hours given the right environment without a heartbeat, or even oxygen. I don’t even want to know what idiot got suckered into that experiment. 

What the nanites couldn’t fix was serious traumatic brain damage. They could put all the pieces back together, but Dr. Griffin didn’t think they would be able to reconstruct a person's consciousness. At least not how it used to be, the nanites would do their best recreating the neural network, but like every machine they would put you together the way they found you they would just try to make you more… efficient. And from my experience most people's brains weren’t all that efficient.

“Do not wait at the LZ, just keep going and try to stay out of trouble. I don’t want to deal with some sort of missile barrage because you’re sitting around.”

“The enemy has not shown such an ability.” Nyko said, clicking off presumably to pass around orders.

“I’ve had enough surprises for one day, I’d rather not have to watch that come across the horizon. Just do it, zig zag if you have to till we’ve caught up.”

“How is squad three?” I directed my question to Indra. 

“Luna and Blake are the only survivors, plus the two Indians from our squad.” Indra reported as calm and dispassionate as if she was reading the morning paper. Say what you want about Indra, but when push came to shove it was nice to hear a calm steady voice. Even if deep down I knew it was more her response to extreme paranoia and fear then any sort of professionalism on her part. “They should be merging with us soon.”

After a few more seconds, the tree I was about to push off burst into flames. I whooped as my target had disappeared and I tumbled head over heels until I bounced off the ground in an undignified heap. I scuttled on my hands and knees cursing as I found the nearest ditch and crawled into it. Somehow the power cable to my laser rifle didn’t get severed and I fired blindly in the direction of the laser fire. 

A blast went off less the a few centimeters, from my face and I couldn’t help but get the inclination that this didn’t seem to be the laser fire from a Macro. So I took a chance…

“We’re friendly… It’s Indra and Lexa. Stop firing.” I shouted, I really didn’t want to become a smoking pile of boots. 

Immediately the lasers stopped and four people came rushing forward, thank god. Shooting behind them as I saw the ground heave and what looked like mechanical ants with giant drills for a head and pinchers instead of legs. When it got close to one of my marines the drill head opened up like a massive beak of a bird as its pinchers tried to grab at them. I fired down the Macro’s maul, before it got one of its pincers around Tank’s legs. 

The Macros went down one by one as Indra and I provided cover fire as my retreating team found cover. After a second of not hearing anything I switched to the squad chat. “What the hell were those things Luna, report?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know. We dropped into some big hole, I thought it would be a safe enough place to land. That went fucking great, it was some sort of mining operation, the moment we landed.” She snapped her fingers, by some miracle, through the thick gloves of the suit. “The bastards started eating us, I wasn’t about to be eaten by thirty odd machines so we picked up and ran. Lost everyone but us along the way.”

Indra sounded like she was about to chew Luna out but I shushed her. There was nothing she could do, I would have done the same. And if from the deep, heaving breaths she, and Sergeant Blake had been taking they had been through some sort of hell. One that if karma was even remotely real I would be experiencing soon. 

It wasn’t the Trikru way to run from a fight, but hell… It's one thing when you are taking on thirty highly armed mercenaries with a sword and three bullets. It was a whole other thing to be surround by murder machines, that you didn’t fully understand. I wouldn’t be surprised if running like hell while firing over our shoulders wouldn’t be the main strategy in this war. We just had so little intelligence about the Macro force composition, and fire power, and it seemed to constantly be changing.

I waved from my position getting everyone to gather everyone to me. “I want us up in the trees. I don’t want any more of those ‘Diggers’, or whatever the hell those things are, nipping at our heels. Indra, Luna each of us will carry. Blake, Tank and Lala.”

“I am perfectly capable of moving on my own.” The other two agreed, and I just rolled my eyes. 

“Not like Trikru. We have five klicks and counting we needed covered, yesterday.” Blake grunted indigently as I snatched her up in a fireman's carry and scrambled up the nearest tree. She was the smallest and I was the Commander, sometimes rank had its privileges. 

I wanted to be on point to give everyone else a bit of a break anyway. I could tell from the heavy breathing that they were all already exhausted. Indra and I were the freshest, as we didn’t get ambushed. I would have felt bad for Luna, but I knew she could take it, luckily Indra let her carry Lala, who was easily a few hundred pounds lighter than Tank, who, like his name indicated, was at least as big as Gustus and Nyko. Luckily Indra had been throwing those two around since she was a teenager, so he wasn’t even remotely a problem.

Moving through the trees to catch up with the main party was significantly easier than running on the ground, at least for me. Half because the first group and the stragglers from my squad had already cleared out the region, and second because being above the Macros meant we saw them at about the same time they saw us, and thankfully most of the ones left didn’t have cannons on their backs. 

We burned them down relentlessly, a few tried taking out the trees ahead of us but that was no obstacle for us Trikru types, especially with our nanitized bodies and increased reaction times. Though Sergeant Blake cursed my very ancestry every time I took an awkward step or swing that jolted her, messing up her aim. Luna seemed worse for wear, occasionally tripping over a stray branch but quickly recovering despite Lala, occasionally shoving off a tree with one of his arms to prevent them from tripping over entirely. 

I thought about stopping and switching with her for what felt like the hundredth time, but I knew she would not be even remotely thankful. She’d see it as if I thought she was weak, or at worst incapable. Instead I slowed down our pace just a bit so that she would hopefully have a chance to catch her breath, at least a little before the next Macro ambush occurred. 

We would have put monkey’s to shame with the way we moved. If we weren’t in a combat situation I could have done this for hours. Swinging from branches, jumping from trunk to trunk, running along the branches. The forest wasn’t the same as the ones from my childhood but I fell back into a rhythm that I could tell the others were getting into as well despite, every thirty seconds or so my visor going completely dark from laser fire.

At some point during the trip I let Indra take the point so that I could check in on Gustus’, she subtle slowed our pace even further and I didn’t complain or comment. I knew They were a bit tired and some of them were severely injured even if they weren’t saying it. A nanitized Marine only complained when they were unconscious or dead, it was only pain after all.

Nyko’s and the other half of my squad was ahead of us. Blake wasn’t happy about our change in position but she would just have to deal with it.

Nyko and Captain Blake were having a relatively easier time of things. Those squad’s only ran into twenty or so Macros, probably because they all landed closer to the LZ which we had a more detailed report on. Why didn’t anyone think to scout what we were flying over? Probably because we thought we would only have to deal with a few curious missiles, not the laser bomb version of motor shells. 

“Gustus, report.” There was no answer. “Anya, report.” No answer again, that was unlike them. I was about to start yelling but then I saw their entire formation turn and begin sprinting in our direction. 

“Gustus… Nyko… Anya… Captain Blake. What is happening?” The mic crackled with undisguisable half sentences.

“Indra, what the fuck is going on?” I shouted, calling her individually since nobody else seemed to be giving me answers. 

“I don’t know Heda… Macros. It may be what we have been searching for.” I agreed with her but was not pleased. My forces were not organized for this, we should have had more time. Several hours if not half a day of time, not three hours of nothing but steadily growing murderous Macros. They had shown little to no interest in our individual forces, hardly changing course after the first few days when earth forces had hardly made a scratch, they barely even bothered to divert forces to engage. 

The Macros must have been smarter than any of us would have assumed because we were either just incredibly unlucky, or the Macro’s had a sense that we weren’t just some normal humans. A few names started going red on my face shield and I knew we didn’t have time to figure out what was going on. 

I signaled for Luna and Indra to drop their passengers, “Blake, you're going down.”

“Fina-fucking-ly,” She cheered as I dropped her the thirty meters down to the forest floor. And before I could give her orders she was moving. “Ding… Dong, let's flank these bastards, you two go right.”

“You have got to love a Sergeant who can read your mind.” I gestured for Luna and Indra to go with ‘Lala and Tank.’

“Captain Blake, Hell Sarin… what the fuck is going on? Report now!” I paused in my tree as I flipped to her squads chat, two groups were minutes from converging. I didn’t want to get any closer without knowing sort of what I was getting into. 

“Heda, this is Corporal Sarin. We are under attack.” 

“Damn it woman, I know that but from what? Before I strangle you with your severed arm.” I heard her squeak in what I can only assume was fear from either my threat or whatever was attacking her. 

“The walkers Heda, two of them. They set a trap for us and came rolling in while we were dealing with some worker Macros. It was a complete surprise, Commander. We’re retreating but taking heavy casualties.” Sarin explained, between labor breathes from the physical exertion from running and quite possible dogging laser beams. 

I thought about what they should do for a split second. “Tell the Captain to stop being a freakin' chicken shit and charge them. Take out the belly turrets, and try not to get stomped.”

She sounded like she was about to argue but there wasn’t enough time to have a discussion about the pros and cons of this plan. “That's an order Sarin… we can discuss it, after, if we all live.”

“As you wish, Commander.” She sounded dejected. Just the way I liked it. A subordinate that always accepted your orders was no fun. But one that followed regardless of their misgivings, was a keeper, it meant they thought for themselves even when under extreme pressure. I was becoming more convinced Sarin was about to become Sergeant Sarin. Maybe even Lieutenant Sarin if she could still shoot after they stapled her arm back on. 

“Move it people full speed… Sarin reported in and they have two Walkers on their tails. I ordered them to take out the turrets so they’d stop dying, but they need more than the fif… fourteen of them. We need to hurry, before all that's left is a bunch of smoking boots.” I dropped to the ground knowing I could get a bit more speed on foot. The others joined me, losing all caution as we got closer and could hear the screams of our commarads. 

A digger immediately emerged from the dirt as I rolled into a sprint, it must have been waiting for me or something. Because I hardly had taken a second step before my foot damn near disappeared in its gaping maul. I was certain I was about to lose my foot when my visor went dark. I got another step in and launched myself in what I hoped was away from the Macro diving into an improvised vault and back to my feet this time with my laser rifle in hand. 

For a second I felt a bit smug that for once when I tried to be a bit coordinated it actually worked out decently well. I didn’t know who took out that Macro and I didn’t care, I started sprinting raising my rifle in high alert. I wasn’t about to be caught with my pants down twice… Okay twice this week, final offer. 

If the walkers were huge looking from the sky, they were absolutely monstrous as their six churning legs broke hundred year old trees with every step. What I previously thought to be Six laser cannons on its belly, turned out to be eight, as they fired rays of death down upon anyone unlucky enough to be caught in line of sight the damn things. Unfortunately that was exactly where we needed to be.

“Under the legs, we need to take out those lasers. Pair off, if that thing is tracking you get the fuck out of the way. Let your partner take it down. Bait and switch people… we trained for this.” Luna and Indra paired off after I waved them away and towards the other walker, I searched around until I caught a lone figure crouching in a ditch. It was a very small woman and I knew if it wasn’t me or Fox. It had to be Sarin, say what you want about the woman but she wasn’t stupid. “Sarin, can you still fight?”

I grab her by the shoulder and hauled her out of the tangle mess of roots she dug herself into. Probably to hide, “Umm… Of course Heda.”

“Good girl… Now I’ll distract the turrets, you shoot them down. Are you any good with that thing?” I pointed at the laser rifle she had tucked under her only arm.

“I can fight Commander.” That did not answer the question or leave me with any sort of confidence. But, I guess that was good enough, if a little evasive. 

“Don’t shoot me in the ass, okay?” I imagined the other woman was embarrassed under her hood but she otherwise didn’t comment. I took off towards the looming machine. I could see a few people firing at it but for the most part, everyone was focused on the Macro to the south. That left this big bastard to me, I wasn’t about to let my unit get blind sided by another of these fucking machines. We had to keep it distracted at the very least, until they finished the other one up. "Looks like we are getting one to ourselves. This should be fun." 

"I would never describe this experience as fun." I heard the young corporal stutter. I am sure having your arm blown off wasn't particularly fun, note to self. Sarin had no sense of humor, whether that was because of losing an arm or a personality flaw was undetermined.. 

"Have anyone not taking down the other Walker come up behind this one and shoot it while the turrets are distracted with me. If I'm alive after a minute, burn through the CPU." She looked like she was about to argue again, but I was already speeding up to charge the Macro the moment it stepped into the upcoming clearing.

This was not my best plan. In fact it was a terrible, suicidally, stupid plan. 

Right as I came out of the cover of trees, three of the lasers locked onto me. I was certain I was dead. One turret would have been fine, two would have been expected, but three laser turrets… My unit must have been damn good at hiding or this Macro had a special interest in killing Lexa Woods. 

Even if I took out one turret I still had two that were about to burn me to ash. So I didn’t even bother, I dived behind one of the legs to avoid the first blast. The Macro must have not given a damn about itself and shot itself in the leg, blowing it to pieces. 

It must have not cared if it survived, as long as it killed me in the process. I guess that's the benefit of being a heartless fucking robot, they didn’t feel or even understand pain or death. There were only two solutions in its mind, win or lose. Retreat didn’t seem to be an option either, just fight to the death. 

Metal shards rained down on my head and I ran to duck behind another leg. I didn’t hear a third blast, hopefully some must have taken out the turret.

The machine lifted its large leg most likely in the hope of crushing me. While it lifted its leg I had a split second to fire at the single turret that came into view. I barely dodge both it and the leg doing its best to make me into a human pancake. I didn’t even have time to check if I got it with my millisecond burst of fire, not that such a limited burst would have enjoyed it. 

“What the hell are you doing you crazy Cougar?” I heard Sergeant Blake say. “Wait for some fucking back up.”

“You’re my backup, shoot the bloody turrets.” I shouted, trying not to sound panicked, though I had the distinct suspicion that I failed. Running to the next leg, now at the back of the Macros long frame, the remaining turrets seemed more determined than ever to see me turned into a smoking pile. I didn’t even try to fire after the last attempt, just focused solely on running and dodging. “What the hell are you shooting at Corporal?”

“I’m sorry Commander, the Macro keeps trying to stomp on you… And it’s legs are moving in random patterns.”

“Would you prefer it if I laid down, gave the thing a proper target, just to give you a clear shot?”

“Of course not, Heda.”

“Then kill it, fuck the turrets. It has definitely been a minute.” I dived away from the monster, changing strategies, making a beeline for the relative safety of the trees. But I didn’t make it more than three steps before Sergeant Blake whooped.

“Got the bastard, he’s coming down.”

“Coming… down…?” I said slowly confused, turning back to the Macro, the huge machine started to sway. It’s Previously functioning turrets all hung limply completely powered down. Then I noticed that half of its legs were still in the air and that were also… coming down… Completely limp. In fact the whole machine was coming down and… it was coming down right on top of me.

I was slow sometimes, Raven always said so. But I doubt even her genius level intelligence could have caught up faster than I could have.

“RUN, YOU IDIOT!” Blake shouted, and my legs started moving backwards, but I was pretty sure it was too late. 

“Well, shit.” Clarke was going to be so pissed. Then the world went black.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I want to apologize for how long this has taken me to get out. I've been struggling emotionally, my job has become tedious and is making me miserable. The stress of planning a wedding, moving, a dealing with all the trans stuff I half the time don't want to think about, and half the time I'm to depressed/scared to deal with. 
> 
> Frankly getting my life back on track, after my big old emotional break down has pushed me to just about my breaking point, again. I'm exhausted all the time, I find myself craving alcohol and cigarettes' again which isn't good because it took me nearly two years to get that under control.
> 
> On top of all that I'm in constant pain, twelve years of working to eventually become a DI high, long and triple jumper is really wrecking havoc on my body. Essentially I'm arthritic from my ribs down. On good days I just have some ankle and knee pain, on bad days it can be hard to breathe. So I'm no longer capable of running or jumping or frankly doing most of the physically exhaustive activities I'm used to doing. Even after nearly two years when the doctors said I'd never jump again I'm not used to it. Only thing I can essentially do is Weightlifting, and even then I have to be very, very carefully or my back will go into spasms. 
> 
> I pretty much just lonely, overwelled and in pain both emotionally and physically. I probably shouldn't have typed all that, maybe I'm just particularly sharey because its my birthday, I've always hated my birthday.
> 
> Anyway, if you hung on this long. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter, it could be better, but I figured you guys waited long enough.

_ Beep… Beep… Beep…  _ No matter how long I may live, I doubt I would ever feel comfortable listening to that sound. At least this was much quieter than a heart monitor, but the message was the same.

Over the past two days I’ve increasingly been reminded how I spent hours sitting with my dad. I spent the vast majority of my senior year sitting beside his bedside pretending to do homework as he laid there withering to nothing. After years of being exposed to radiation after spending his youth as a fighter pilot for the air force then working as an engineer for nuclear power plants.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

That had been a hard year for all of us, after he died, Raven ran off to join the army, Mom was drunk or at work and probably sometimes both, after a week of being home alone I packed a backpack, stole my mom’s credit card, and took the first flight to Europe. I probably would have still been there traveling and painting if Abby hadn’t dragged me by the ear to what felt like her first choice university dropped me in a dorm room and said ‘pass or be disowned’. 

I knew there were plenty of other things I could be doing right now. Well not really the nanites pretty much did all the doctor stuff. But for some reason bureaucracy had already snuck into Star Force. I suspect that it has much to do with Wells, he could be such a tight ass. It was probably a family trait. And since I seemed to be the only person who even read their emails I seemed to end up with everyone’s paperwork. Probably because I’m the only one Wells isn’t completely petrified.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

Despite that though there was one major benefit, it gave me a lot of time to learn more about the nanites. Mostly I queried a few of the nanoship pilots who were on patrol and had them ask their ships questions. Most of the ships seemed cagey about answering specifics, but I got the general gist of how they ‘thought’, so to speak.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

Essentially, the nanites would create clusters meant for specific purposes, each individual nanite had a specific job that benefitted whatever the overall goal of the cluster. For example if you wanted to replicate a human hand, the nanites would replicate the approximate size of cells and designate themselves to specific purposes, like bone equivalents, skin equivalents, etcetera. The nanites would even replicate blood, though it was really just a silvery liquid made up of nanites that from the best I understood helped prevent your body from rejecting the appendage.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

Also, from both asking different nano clusters, I’ve gotten the impression that not all of them were equally intelligent. The ships knew lots of things, at times it seemed like they knew everything, but were just not willing to share. But for example if you asked the brainbox that controlled all the medical equipment about anything other than medicine, it would have no idea. Raven had told me that the factories were the same way, no matter how large of a brain box she would give them, they still only provided information on building things. They didn’t even give the impression that they knew anything else.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

I guess it made sense in a way, keep all the special information for the ‘chosen systems’ as Raven so helpfully put it. More likely whoever designed these machines didn’t want their command personnel learning or being able to manipulate them into discovering the secrets of the universe. 

_ Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… _

I sighed after a few long minutes of nothing, nothing changing. I suspected today would be another long day of listening to men and women, insisting that they were fine, then listening to them scream until they inevitably passed out. I almost envied Lexa for being able to sleep through that. 

When Raven’s nanoship came flying in at what I thought was as fast as she could make it go, without killing everyone inside, it gave me hope. Because if she was flying fast that meant that someone was alive. I knew that there was pretty much a one hundred percent chance that all of them would most certainly die. Lexa had made it very clear that this was at best a suicide mission and not to expect her to return, but I couldn’t help myself.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

Seeing Raven’s nanoship gave me hope, at least for the few minutes it took for me to hear the sonic boom run out and to watch her land. That’s when I saw them, what remained of Lexa’s unit. I’ve seen a lot of horrifying things working in the ER, worse things since Star Force started providing medical assistance to anyone and everyone who was fighting the Macros. But what came off of that ship was something straight out of Hell. Part of me didn’t even believe what I was seeing. That who I was looking at were at one time human.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

Body parts were missing, having either been ripped off, burned or just blown to ashes entirely. Fox had even plopped Jasmine's arm right in an orderlies outstretched hand that he immediately dropped wide-eyed, mouth gaping in shock having no idea what to do with it. And who could blame him, nothing could prepare you for terminator style nightmare.

Each and every one of them was riddled with holes, everything from the tiny pin pricks like they had gotten in training. Gustus who seemed to be holding in his kidney or liver or who the hell cared at that point in with his mangled left hand. It was disgusting, the blood alone made me wish I would have fought a little harder not to go to med school.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

The worst part of it all was that half of them didn’t even know how badly they were injured. Blame it on the adrenaline, their nerve endings being thoroughly burnt or idiotic stubborn headedness of the group. But, it had taken several people just to get a few of them to lay down so they could assess the full extent of the damage. It took six of us to force Anya down onto a table because she refused to leave Lexa’s side only with Luna’s help did they finally strap her down to receive ‘treatment’.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

Unfortunately the ‘treatment’ of any injury was probably far worse than how they received them in the first place. There is nothing like sitting there as a medical professional and watching your patients scream and not being able to do a damn thing about it because it's the only way to make them better. In fact if you were to interrupt or try to help in any way it would more than likely make the process longer and more painful. 

It was too much for some of the doctors that had joined them over the past few weeks, I had to personally escort Jackson out because he looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. Luckily after an hour or two most of them passed out from what I hoped was exhaustion, but knew it was likely the fact their mind couldn’t process how much pain they were in anymore. If only the nanites understood the concept of pain.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

I decided then that I was going to be the only person who watched the worst of the injured to make sure they all still had brain activity. I only called for an orderly, all who I requested get nanitized, so they could take those who were healed enough not to pull their staples back to their respective tents or rooms awake or not. Hopefully the medical staff got used to the new normal quickly so I wouldn’t have to keep pulling all nighters. I could have asked Mom or Wells to take a shift but Abby had about the same bedside manner as the nanos and Wells pissed people off.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

He was just too nice, surprisingly enough, and when you're tied to a bed being tortured, the last thing you want to hear is ‘Relax, everything is going to be just fine.’ That particular line had earned him a head butt and a broken nose, courtesy of our esteemed general Anya. Poor guy… but he really should have known better than to try and comfort her in any sort of way. 

Even Jasmine, who was normally a rather pleasant, quiet woman, was incredibly irritable, nearly knocking out the doctor who was trying to staple her arm back to her body in the hopes the nanites would work their magic and saved the appendage. 

Yes, magic… Deal with it.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

I had come to realize my job had now practically boiled down to being a glorified babysitter. Tie this poor bastard down there, soothe the ego of overeager doctors when their patient tries to kill them, fill out paperwork. 

Speaking of paperwork, there were plenty of other people here who were perfectly capable of filling it out, like a particular doctor who happened to share the same last name as me but was having way too much fun experimenting on unsuspecting people, and she wonders where Raven and I get it from. She's a troublemaker too and I have her notes to prove it.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

“Mom would be pissed if she saw you moping at her bedside like that.” I jumped not having heard Olivia come into the room. I hadn’t seen her in the past couple of days, everything had gotten so hectic that I hadn’t had to check up on the teen. But I think that maybe I should have made the effort, she had on what most people had started calling the fleets casual wear.

It was nothing more than a black turtleneck sort of thing, that vaguely reminded me of the uniforms from Star Trek, despite Raven’s defiant objections. I remembered when she sent me the modifications for it, apparently it functioned as a space suit as well. I don’t remember exactly how it worked and at the moment I figured it didn’t much matter. But they were very comfortable, especially in the constant heat of Andros Island. “She hates it when people watch her sleep.”

“You must have a lot of experience watching her sleep. Family pass time?” I asked not really expecting an answer. What I had found with Liv, even more than Lexa or Anya, she tended to avoid talking about herself. In fact I found that she actively avoided it, I wondered if that was always a thing for her or if that was more of a recent development. 

“You may have noticed in your time…” She shifted awkwardly eyeing both Lexa and I got the message and smirked. 

“You can say it you know.” 

“I refuse to acknowledge that my mother is sleeping with a woman who is what? Twenty-five… And she isn’t some floozy co-ed looking to bump their grade. You do realize that you're closer in age to me than you are to my mother. It would be far less creepy if we were dating.” I felt my face flush as Olivia winked at me. First she flirts with my mother, then who knows how many other unsuspecting women, apparently now she had grown so bored with women milling around the base that she now decided to flirt with me. 

I wasn’t about to play this game with her. I knew what she was doing. Liv pretended to be stupid, it was easy for her she was young, tall and built like a tank from spending hours in the gym. She’s laid back and an insufferable flirt who doesn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason to what she does. But I knew different, I knew a fellow schemer when I met one plus the addition of the new uniform and I may have figured out where she had been for the past few days. Though I doubt she would just come out and say it. 

Olivia had this talent for figuring out what makes people tick, she nailed my Mom’s weakness before they even met. Anya, Lexa and half the women on base wrapped around her little finger. I was certain I saw one of the sous chef’s literally trip over herself to make sure Liv had everything she needed for her meal in the mess. I wish I had that kind of game. But she definitely always seemed to have a purpose for the company she kept and since I was certain she didn’t have me whipped I had to see where this was going. Because I had very little doubt that she was just coming over to chat. 

“So… Did you come here just to flirt or…?” Olivia snorted shifting into a more relaxed position.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep... _

“And what if I did?” She winked at me, as she took a seat at the other side of Lexa’s bedside. I glared at her, not amused in the slightest. 

“Fine…” She huffed, plopping into a seat on the other side of the bed and throwing her tablet onto Lexa’s lap. I nearly jumped looking between Lexa and the monitors but there was no change. I was both relieved and disappointed. 

Picking up her tablet I was only mildly surprised at what I saw. “You really can’t just be patient can you.”

“It’s only a matter of time until I turn eighteen and if she won’t let me join Star Force, somebody else will offer me a position. It would be illogical for her to refuse.” Olivia did have a point. 

“And you were just going to what…? Slip in here while she was sleeping and save both of you the trouble of speaking to each other. You know she is not directly opposed to you joining, she’s just…”

“Something like that… Besides even if she was awake, the ten-year cumulative hangover, shattering just about every bone in her body and the general confusion of waking up in a place she didn’t remember falling asleep in, I doubt she would even notice what was going on. I don’t know why she cares anyway.”  _ Beep… Beep… Beep…  _

For a few tense moments we sat there in silence where I guess I was supposed to say something. “You're not going to stop me?”

“No, I already talked to Lexa about it since you both have been avoiding each other. I don’t think she could handle it if you got unnecessarily hurt or worse.” She rolled her eyes but didn’t respond. I honestly hadn’t expected her too… it was probably the wrong thing to say. 

Even if she didn’t like to admit it they really did look alike, Olivia already had that bored look Lexa made when she was done with whatever was going on. “She does this every once in a while when she actually sleeps. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“She doesn’t normally sleep?” I asked, concerned. I hadn’t noticed before but she looked so young and peaceful while she was sleeping. It made me want to run my fingers through her still perfect looking hair. Now that I thought more about it I didn’t think I had ever actually seen Lexa fall to sleep. She always came to my tent late in the night or woke me up in the morning but I didn’t think she had ever really stayed the whole night. I didn’t really mind, she was a busy woman and people came to get her at all hours of the day and night. I hadn’t considered her random appearances were because she simply couldn’t sleep.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

But as I stared at her I did feel a bit like a creep. Lexa really did look young, like a teenager young, when she was asleep, she didn’t have the same weighted far away look she did when she was awake.

It was really amazing, if you couldn’t see her breathing you would have thought she was some sort of model made out of clay. It probably had something to do with her blood, and it’s regenerative properties. Add in the nanites and I wouldn’t be surprised that the only thing that could kill her was cutting off her head or a stake in the heart. I should probably keep that observation to myself or Raven might start rubbing herself down in garlic and spritzing holy water around every time Lexa got near her. 

Though, would that be such a bad thing? I’ll just save that for later, if things become too boring or particularly tense in the future. 

“She takes naps, but never ones longer than an hour at most two because of the nightmares.” Liv sighed. “Mom would never admit it but once you wake up to her screaming once or twice you get used to it. She probably really needed the rest, even if it was from an injury. I don’t think she’s slept since…” I thought she was about to say it, but Olivia stopped herself. Her eyes flashed in what I had learned was rage, it was gone not a moment later and I almost thought I imagined it, but I knew that was just how Liv was. She liked to keep her emotions on the inside and rarely let them out except in brief moments.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

I don’t think Liv had mentioned her brother once since we’ve met her, it was probably too painful. Mom mentioned that she tried getting her to talk about it, but apparently it went very poorly. She avoided Abby for days afterwards and every time they ran into each other she seemed to just shut down in what I learned was typical fashion for all of the Trikru types. She would just have to talk about it when she was ready, which would probably end up being never. “You didn’t hear that from me though, if it ever comes up Anya mentioned it or something.”

“I’m pretty sure I can do that. Anya hates my guts anyway.”

“Anya hates everyone, you should be scared if she doesn’t hate you. Can I ask you something?” That was also a new surprise, Olivia didn’t really ask for things, at least not for what most teenagers asked for. I mean she was about to snatch her mother’s thumbprint, which was basically equivalent to a signature, just so she could join Star Force without anyone realizing.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

“Abby was talking at me earlier about wanting to do some more invasive testing on my mom.”

“Ohh…” I groaned rolling my eyes. Abby really needs to learn how to have a conversation with normal people. Frankly any conversation at all would be nice. “My mother would like to cut open Lexa’s head around the base of her skull because of the anomaly she located on the medulla in her x-rays. She wants to determine the extent of the physical alterations the nanites and Becca’s experiments have caused. It is nearly impossible without a base line on… um… who she was supposed to be.”

I grimaced at my choice of words. We didn’t know what exactly was done because there were modifications done to Lexa’s DNA. We just simply just didn’t have enough information.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep… _

“It would be useful as more and more people become nanitized if we can add some of those, I hate to say improvements on the basic human genome, could be replicated into the nanites programing. Obviously there are greater advantages to the human species as a whole but we have been trying to focus on military applications but…”

“Yeah, I get it.” Olivia waved me away, probably having heard this speech already. “Mom’s like a treasure trove of medical miracles and she has a metal box at the base of her skull that's doing who knows what to her brain. Not even the nanites want to mess with it. Do you think it's dangerous?”

“I doubt it. If it's been in there for nearly twenty years without any side effects, I can’t imagine the intention of the device was to do any harm. If it did the nanites would have removed it, like they would have if it was like a pin.” I explained.

“But Raven mentioned something about Mom being a Borg Queen and we are all now part of her collective. What the hell does that mean?“ I sighed and cursed. We had all agreed that Borgs are neither a real or a remote possibility and she would be crazy to ever suggest that. Apparently she hadn’t listened or more probably had forgotten in some sort of half crazed thought idea frenzied. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t talk to Raven anymore, her mental state has obviously deteriorated further than anyone has imagined. Lexa is not a Borg Queen and you should not ever look it up on the internet or ask Niylah or frankly anyone. Ever!” She raised a suspicious eyebrow at me and I pointedly ignored her and tapped away on my scroll sending a message to Raven.

‘I cannot believe you told Olivia that Lexa was a Borg Queen. I’m telling Mom, you moron.’ I sent angrily and immediately received.  _ Beep… Beep… Beep…Beep… Beep… Beep…Beep… Beep… Beep… _

‘Your such a child, I didn’t mean to. She cornered me while I was working with the factories room, I was talking to MYSELF. Not my fault she was listening.’ I growled at the message and the little ‘That's so Raven’ GIF she attached. She’s lucky she ran off to her moon base with Curly and Moe. 

“Why do you both look so cranky?” I snapped my gaze toward the hospital bed. There was Lexa pulling the monitor pads off her looking a mixture between pissed and confused. 

“Abby,” Olivia called, shouted out of the Commander’s private room. “Hey, you! Go get Dr. Griffin.”

The med tech who had been pushing a cart. “But Dr. Gr…”

“I don’t care what she’s doing. Get… Her… NOW!!!!” She ordered.

“Yes, Ensign Woods.” He shouted/squeaked as he ran out of the medical tent like he was on fire. 

“You didn’t have to yell at Jackson.” I said knowing that he was going to be grumpy all day. 

“He didn’t need to piss his pants.” Liv said, tapping the tablet on Lexa’s lap. “Sign this.”

“What is it?” Lexa said groggily, picking it up the tablet and scanning the documents.

“Does it really matter? You're going to sign it.” Olivia said glaring at Lexa. 

“This is recruitment paperwork… Star Force recruitment paperwork. What are you trying to pull?” 

“See, this is why I wanted to do it when she was out cold. She always thinks I’m trying to pull something.”

“You are always trying to pull something.” Lexa grumbled, scanning it more. “You really want to be a pilot? Why, when and how did you get all of this done? It's been what a month.”

“How? Because I’m generally nice to people and exchanging advice on the best way to approach you with something they think you won’t like in exchange for sim time was simple enough. When, all the time, because I actually have this thing called free time. And Why…” She reached out snagging Lexa by the collar and lifting her out of the bed. I gasped in shock and stood though I realized that there was nothing I could do; they were both nanitized and probably way stronger than me to begin with. 

“Liv put her down.” I said but was ignored. 

“Because when I thought about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and to what you can imagine didn’t seem all that useful or relevant anymore considering the world is on the brink of destruction. Then I got angry. So… so… angry at you, at the universe, at everything. I drank like you, I shot shit, but can’t forget Aiden.” Tears pricked in the corner of her eyes and I gapped in shock. “He was my best friend… And we all just pretend like he never even existed.”

“Oliva I…” 

“NO…” She cried. “Don’t tell me whatever placating bullshit you were about to…”

“HERE!” Lexa shouted, slamming the tablet against her chest. “I signed it, I wasn’t going to say no.” 

Olivia relaxed slightly but hadn’t set Lexa down not that the older woman was resisting in the slightest. “Oh…”

“Yeah…” They both sort of frozen in an awkward sort of silence. 

“Well…” “I should really…” They both said then stuttered off and Liv unceremoniously dropped back on to the bed. 

“I’m going to go Commander. I have… name a thing.” She didn’t exactly run but was damn close. 

“UHHH…” I verbalized because I’m an idiot who couldn’t think of anything else to say. 

“Just come here Clarke.” Lexa gestured patting the bed beside her. “Unless I’m allowed to leave?”

“Not a chance.” I smiled, pulling my chair closer so that I could wrap our fingers together. “Do you want to talk about what just happened?”

“No”

“Are you ever going to want to talk about it?”

“No,” I grumbled, not entirely convinced that was even remotely a good idea. “The only thing I want to know is why I’m not allowed to leave this bed. I feel fine and I probably have been asleep for far too long.” I sighed kissing her hand but luckily didn’t have a moment to explain.

“What the hell is going on in here? Olivia just pushed past me crying.”

“It’s nothing, why am I being held captive? ” Mom glared at Lexa but seemed like she let it go at least for the moment. 

“You're not being held captive. You’re being held for… observation.” Abby grumbled tapping a few buttons on her tablet and the x-ray they had taken a few days ago popped up on my screen. I rotated it and zoomed in on Lexa’s neck. 

“What the hell is that?” Lexa looked between the screen and myself in confusion. “Is that my head?”

“Any theory I would tell you would freak you out?” Lexa raised an eyebrow at me questioningly. “Seriously you don’t want to know.”

“Raven thinks I’m a robot doesn’t she.” Lexa said and I sighed. 

“Not exactly the terminology she used but… yes. Do you remember when this thing could have been ins… I mean implanted?” I cringed at my almost choice of words and Lexa didn’t look too pleased either. Though my mother looked suspiciously consumed with whatever was on her tablet. 

“Umm…” She reached up and rubbed the broken infinity symbol. I’d seen her do this countless times but hadn’t thought of it with any significance. 

“Do you know you trace your tattoo every time you think about something?” Lexa immediately stopped and looked at her hand. 

“I… No I… Becca, gave me this tattoo as a present for my birthday. She put me to sleep and when I awoke I was to be Heda. Are you saying she put this in my head, why?”

“That’s what we want to find out.” My mother said flashing through a few screens that showed a few different scans of the nanites over the past few days. “Whatever it is, even the nanites give it a wide berth so it must be communicating in a way our sensors are not sensing. You even healed faster than you were supposed to, half your unit is still on bed rest, not that they’re listening. But you could go back in the field as fast as you can put on your suit.”

“Is it hurting me?” 

“No, the nanites should have removed it if it was particularly harmful.” I sighed knowing I couldn’t escape the reality. “But it’s living sort of like a parasite, feeding off of your brain's electrical impulses and sending back electrical impulses in return, if it was to be removed I’m not sure that um… you… would survive.”

“Clarke… Don’t sugar coat it for me.” Lexa said, her eyes shining with emotion I didn’t quite understand. “Your saying I may not be well… me.”

“No that’s not…” I started but my mother cut me off

“That is a real possibility. Your personality, decision making, maybe even your memories could have been altered.” Abby said bluntly and I glared at her. “What Clarke? It’s the truth no point denying it.”

“It could also be complete crap.” I looked back at Lexa. She had let go of my hand and was now gripping the sheets so tightly the nanites were struggling to hold themselves together. “Listen, this could very well be nothing…”

“Or I could be a robot.” 

“No”“Yes” Abby and I said in unison and I sighed, shaking my head not even bothering to look at my mother and her smug expression.”

“Can you two just…” Lexa pinched her brow in annoyance. “Tell me what you want.”

“She wants to cut open your head.” She frowned even deeper.

“And you didn’t do this while I was out because…?”

“I’m afraid that if we start poking around in your head well… whatever that is will kill you.” I sighed, having already had this argument with both Raven, Liv and my mother. “I don’t think we should risk... forgive my phasing, short circuiting or triggering some sort of defense mechanism or a countless number of things that could endanger not just you but everyone”

“But… It was made by Becca. It could literally be anything that woman was insane the same risks apply. It could easily be a waiting time bomb us taking a look could make no difference… She could die.”

“You could kill her… but that would be preferable for you wouldn’t it.” I glared at her and she glared back. “You know, I don’t think this even about Lexa and her brain box. I think you just want to dig around in my girlfriends brain.”

“Maybe…” She spat. “Or maybe I want to know what's going on in the most powerful person on the planet's mind. And I’ll have you know both Raven and Jaha agree.” 

“You told Jaha? I thought we agreed to keep this quiet." I said attempting to keep the fury from my voice which I knew would only make the matter worse. A fight between my mother and I could last for hours, many long unproductive hours.

“It's not like I can stop him from walking in here and taking the information he wants.” Abby huffed. “It’s not my fault he’s a Commodore and frankly, an asshole.”

“Mother…” I scolded, but there was no heat behind it. Jaha could be an ass, but Lexa for some reason valued his advice. Especially when it came to the fleet and introducing new policies and procedures and who knows what else they talked about at all hours of the night. 

“It’s fine Clarke, let's do the surgery.” She said, the paleness that had graced her features moments before. I opened my mouth to tell her that she didn’t have to but she hushed me. “We have to know what’s going on if Mo… Becca did something to me we have to know even if it's unpleasant.”

Lexa didn’t look pleased but at the same time I knew when she made a decision there’s nothing anyone could say that could change her mind. “We’ll need a few hours to set everything up, do you think you can sit still for that long?” I said, squeezing Lexa’s hand one last time before sending a quick message to Raven. 

“Do I have a choice?” I gave her a look that most certainly read absolutely not and she sighed. “Can I at least have my pad? I’m sure I have limitless emails.”

I nodded, knowing that the next few hours were probably going to be a nightmare. And to make double sure, I sent an extra little message that I was probably going to regret.

**Author's Note:**

> I am very excited for this fic. I am about half way done with it and decided to start posting now. Most likely will be doing weekly updates, till I am finished writing.
> 
> I am still working on Angel's Game, but I hit a bottle neck with it and I stopped liking it. So I am doing a complete overhaul, that should be coming out over the Summer once this fic is complete. Just don't hold me too that, I am a notorious liar.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this fic.


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